The Envirothon program is for 9th-12th grade students designed to promote awareness about our natural environment. Students compete in a contest that tests their knowledge on a wide array of subjects relating to natural resources and the environment. Six Regional Envirothon competitions are held across Nebraska in the early spring. The winning five-member team from each regional competition is then invited to represent their region at the Nebraska State Envirothon Competition with additional wildcard teams invited based on their regional competition scores.
March 4, the Northeast Nebraska Regional Envirothon was held at the Lifelong Learning Center in Norfolk. Twenty-nine teams from 24 different schools across northeast and north-central Nebraska participated in the regional Envirothon contest and were tested in the areas of Aquatics, Forestry, Policy, Range, Soils, Wildlife and a Special Topic for a chance to attend the State Envirothon Competition scheduled for April 29th at Lake Wanahoo Recreation Area near Wahoo.
This year’s winning team was from Neligh-Oakdale High School and consisted of Ashton Higgins, Carson Jones, Lynae Koinzan, Talon Krebs, and Emme Bixler.
Station certificates were presented to:
Chambers High School and Wayne High School in Special Topics
Neligh-Oakdale High School in Wildlife
Ainsworth High School in Policy
Ainsworth High School in Forestry
Sargent High School in Range
Logan View High School in Soils
North Bend High School, Crofton High School, Sargent High School and Ainsworth High School in Aquatics
Schools participating in this year’s competition included; Logan View, North Bend, Pender, Blair, Oakland-Craig, Wayne, Stanton, Creighton, Elgin, Ainsworth, Rock County, Burwell, Keya Paha, Chambers, Wisner-Pilger, Crofton, Norfolk, Orchard, Hartington-Newcastle, Pierce, Sargent, O’Neill and West Holt.
The regional Envirothon contest is sponsored by the Upper Elkhorn NRD, Lower Elkhorn NRD, and Agriculture Education Contest at Northeast Community College.
Due to the continued restrictions from COVID-19, the Nebraska State Envirothon scheduled for April 29 was canceled. The qualifying teams were to compete at the Nebraska Envirothon hosted at Lake Wanahoo near Wahoo, Nebraska. During the state competition, teams compete in hands-on environmental testing stations as well as prepare and deliver an oral problem-solving presentation focusing on “Water Resources Management: Local Control, Local Solutions.”
Governor Pete Ricketts issued a Direct Health Measure that imposes an enforceable limit on public gatherings. In addition, high school teams that qualified for state are out of school and practicing social distancing limiting their ability to compete.
Story Courtesy of Upper Elkhorn NRD Spring Newsletter
