Chardon team places 12th in Envirothon

CHARDON, Ohio — The Chardon High School Envirothon team, representing the state of Ohio, placed 12th in the North American Envirothon. The team previously made it to the national level four years in a row: placing fifth in 2006, eleventh in 2007, fifth in 2008 and eighth in 2010.

Competition

The Chardon team competed with 54 teams representing 45 U.S. states, eight Canadian provinces and one Canadian territory in North America’s largest high school environmental education competition.

The North American Envirothon is the culmination of a series of regional and state (or provincial) competitions that began during the past school year and involved more than 500,000 teenagers throughout North America.

In written tests and oral presentations, five-member teams from schools and organizations compete for the distinction of representing their state or province at the Canon Envirothon. The National Association of Conservation Districts, the USDA Forest Service, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation in the U.S. and the Provincial Forestry Association in Canada are key partners in organizing the North American Envirothon.

Each team’s knowledge is tested under the supervision of foresters, soil scientists, wildlife biologists and other natural resource professionals. Teamwork, problem solving and presentation skills are evaluated as each team offers a panel of judges an oral presentation containing recommendations for solving the specific environmental challenge that is presented during the competition.

Location

This year’s competition was held at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada, July 24-29. The team included Kate Best, Kim Savides, Anna Parker, Kirsten Tysl and Brian Vadakin and was coached by Marilyn Rohr.

They studied environmental issues and resource conservation focusing on this year’s theme of Salt and Freshwater Estuaries while competing for awards of $125,000 in college scholarships and Canon prizes.