*The following news release provided by Sharon Pattee of the Colorado Association of Conservation Districts.
Woodland Park High School’s AP Environmental Science team took first place honors at the 2016 Colorado Envirothon Competition held on April 26 and 27, in Castle Rock! This year’s event took place at the Douglas County Events Center, with a new record number of teams participating. Nineteen teams came from all over Colorado, to compete in the Colorado Association of Conservation Districts’ (CACD) annual natural resource science based contest. There were twenty three teams registered for the two day 2016 CO Envirothon (COE) event, but a few had to cancel at the last minute due to unforeseen circumstances. The second place team was last year’s winners, Sargent High School’s FFA team, from Monte Vista; and, the third place team was also from Woodland Park High School in Teller County.
In partnership with CACD, the Rio Grande Watershed Conservation and Education Initiative and the Center Conservation District helped increase CO Envirothon’s outreach and funding by 45 percent over the prior year’s competition. It is wonderful to see such a jump in statewide interest and involvement in just the past two years. Judy Lopez (RGWCEI) and Brenda Anderson (CCD) did a great job with the bulk of organizing this year’s event. CACD would like to thank them, along with a number of other contest volunteers, instructors, and judges, for their contributions at making the 2016 COE event such a success!
The winning team members from Woodland Park High School were: Laura Wagner, Malena Harangozo, Hunter Stone, Madison Czelusta, and Hudson Pace. Mr. Dan Ganoza is Woodland Park High School’s AP Environmental Science teacher and acted as the team’s advisor and coach. Assisting him was Rose Banzhaf. These Colorado students and their coach will be heading to the internationalNCF Envirothon competition in Montreal, Canada this summer, in July.
Other Colorado schools, that made the trip to Castle Rock for the 2016 contest, were from Alamos, Blanca, Castle Rock, Craig, Del Norte, Fort Collins, Fort Garland, Glenwood Springs, Greeley, Kremmling, Monte Vista, San Luis, Saguache, and Woodland Park.
During the one and a half day competition, all students are tested in a total of five areas of natural resource science content, including: aquatic ecology, forestry, wildlife, and soils. Teams also have to make an oral presentation on solving a current natural resource problem, with this year’s topic being “Invasive Species”. Team work and critical thinking are the basis for a successful outcome at this fun and educational contest.
CACD thanks all of this year’s participants and their school sponsors. The date and location of the 2017 CO Envirothon event will be announced in the coming months. More information about the Colorado Envirothon program can be obtained from the website at www.coloenvirothon.org, or by calling the Colorado Association of Conservation Districts, at: (719) 686-0020.
