From Becky McRoy Beaufort County Soil and Water Conservation District

Beaufort County middle school and high school students competed in the Area 5 and 6 Coastal Envirothon held on March 18, 2014 at Weyerhaeuser’s Cool Springs Environmental Education Center in Craven County. Eleven teams of five members each were sponsored by the Beaufort Soil and Water Conservation District. Teams who qualified at the Coastal event advanced to compete at the North Carolina Envirothon held April 25-26, 2014 in Alamance County. Students who compete in the area and state competitions are from public and private schools, homeschool groups, and teams representing youth groups such as 4-H and FFA.

Among the more than 200 students who competed at the Coastal Envirothon were Beaufort County teams:  the Running Cheetahs, Chocowinity Middle School, Leigh Apple – advisor; the Enthusiastic Environmentalists, Freaks of Nature, and The Elite, Northeast Elementary School, Melanie Simmons – advisor; The A Team (middle school), Mercats and La Familia (high school), Pungo Christian Academy, Crystal Swindell – advisor; the Macho Minks and Whomping Willows, Northside High School, Daphne Cullom – advisor; The Green Team, Southside High School, Katherine Bogart – advisor; and the Nerd Herd, Washington High School, Ginger Wescott – advisor.

Five county teams qualified to go to the North Carolina Envirothon. Middle school teams were the Running Cheetahs, Chocowinity Middle, and the Enthusiastic Environmentalists and Freaks of Nature, Northeast Elementary. They competed with forty-two other middle school teams from across the state. For the high school competition, the Macho Minks, Northside High, and the Nerd Herd, Washington High, vied for a place in the top ten against forty-five other high school teams.

The Nerd Herd team placed eighth overall in the state competition including first place in the wildlife event and fourth overall in the oral presentation component. Team members were Kara Hall, Amy Arnold, Taylor Abele, Matthew Wescott, and Kathryn Wescott.

The Envirothon is a hands-on, natural science academic event that challenges and engages students to think critically about the natural world and their roles in it. Middle school and high school teams demonstrate their management knowledge and problem-solving skills in a competition centered on five categories: soils/land use, wildlife, forestry, aquatics, and current environmental issues. At the N.C. Envirothon, high school teams are challenged with a sixth scoring component, an oral presentation.

Envirothon competitions are sponsored by the N.C. Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts as well as local districts and Farm Bureaus from across the state.  For more information, visit www.nccoastalenvirothon.org and www.ncenvirothon.org.