LINCOLN — The Nebraska Envirothon championship trophy is headed to St. Paul High School. The 5-member St. Paul team won 1st place at the state competition following a day of outdoor testing. The students from St. Paul will now prepare for the National Conservation Foundation (NCF) Envirothon competition in North Carolina July 29 – August 2, 2019.
The Nebraska state contest was held at the Lower Loup NRDs Pibel Lake recreation area near Ericson, Nebraska on Wednesday, April 24, 2019. More than 100 teams, consisting of five members each, first competed in regional contests held across the state. The 14 highest scoring teams then had the opportunity to participate at the state competition.
Teams competed in seven areas of environmental studies: soils, aquatics, forestry, wildlife, range, policy and on a current environmental issue they presented to a group of judges. This year, the students prepared oral presentations on agriculture and the environment. Test questions are not only written, but many require hands-on observations, tools, measurements and calculations.
“This competition is such a great opportunity for these students,” said Jim Eschliman, vice-president of the Nebraska Association of Resources Districts (NARD) and board member for the Lower Loup Natural Resources District. “Allowing students to get outdoors and learn about natural resources in a hands-on environment is great, this experience exposes students to the many exciting careers in the field of natural resources.”
Members of the first-place team from St. Paul include: Marissa Baker, Noah Thede, Dalton Jerabek, Ethan Uhlir, and Jackson Seward. Their coach is Boyd Bowder, a vocational teacher and FFA advisor at St Paul High School.
The Nebraska Association of Resources Districts (NARD) Foundation is the sponsor of the annual Nebraska Envirothon. The first, second, and third overall placing teams received recognition from the NARD Foundation. The NARD Foundation provided $1,500 to the first-place St. Paul team. The second-place team from Loup City received $1,000 and the third-place team from Arapahoe received $500. Each team must use the money to enhance their high school’s Envirothon, natural resources and agriculture programs.
Awards were also presented to the top team in each testing category. Concordia Team 2 won first place in Special Topic presentations. Milford won first place in Forestry. Concordia Team 1 won first place in Policy. West Holt, Burwell and Arapahoe tied for first place in Range. St. Paul and Concordia Team 1 tied for first place in Soils. Concordia Team 1 won first place in Aquatics. First place in Wildlife was a tie between Arapahoe and Logan View.
“We’re excited to work with the St. Paul team in preparation for the National Competition,” said Eschliman. “We also look forward to next year, when Nebraska’s NRDs will host the 2020 National NCF Envirothon competition.”
Each year, the Envirothon program reaches more than 500,000 students across the world. The Nebraska Envirothon competition is an event that provides hands on outdoor learning opportunity for more than 500 students across the state annually.
The Nebraska Envirothon competition wouldn’t be possible without the generous support of sponsors and volunteers. This year, more than 35 volunteers assisted with the state competition.
Sponsors and supporters for this year’s Envirothon included Smithfield Foods – Omaha, Lincoln and Crete campuses, FYRA Engineering, Nebraska-Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS), Nebraska Forest Service, Farm Credit Services of America, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, the Nebraska Association of Resources Districts Foundation, and support from each of Nebraska’s 23 Natural Resources Districts.
Find out more about how you can get involved in the Nebraska Envirothon or the 2020 National NCF Envirothon hosted by Nebraska’s NRDs by going to www.nrdnet.org.
— Nebraska Association of Resources Districts
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