SC Envirothon Team Competition
Announces
2014 Winners
Team members are (left to right) Nina Srivastava, Elisabeth Speal, Jesseca Kusher, Alex Freedman, and Ella Webster and their coach was Ms. Bonnie Webster (not pictured).
The SC Envirothon competition was held recently at the Sandhills Research and Education Center near Columbia. Students from across the state have been preparing for many months for the event. This year, twenty teams from across the state participated in the SC Envirothon with Spartanburg Day School Team A taking First Place with the top combined score. Spartanburg Day also took home top honors in the Wildlife, Sustainable Agriculture and Orals Presentation. Each student on the First Place team will receive a $500 college scholarship. Second place went to Spartanburg High School Team A and those students will receive a $250 college scholarship. Third place honors were captured by Dorman High School Team A, with each student receiving a $125 scholarship.
The SC Envirothon is an affiliate of the North American Envirothon, which includes the United States and several Canadian Provinces. Held outdoors, the Envirothon is a dynamic environmental competition for high school students which cultivates a passion for environmental science and conservation policy by testing in the subject areas of aquatics, forestry, soils, wildlife, and a topic that varies from year to year. The 2014 concentration was sustainable agriculture.
The learning objectives for each individual subject station then become woven together in a team-based oral presentation developed from a fictitious scenario. This year, students presented to a panel of experts, hailing from such agencies as DNR, USDA-NRCS, conservation districts, land trusts and county government. Clemson and Francis Marion Universities also provided experts to judge the Orals Station.
The Envirothon has been in South Carolina since 1997, providing over $85,000 is scholarship funds to local high school students. The Envirothon is coordinated by the SC Department of Natural Resources, in cooperation with the SC Forestry Commission, USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, Central Carolina Technical College, Francis Marion University, Florence County Environmental Discovery Center, SC Soil and Water Society and Clemson University. Major financial sponsors are the SC Conservation Districts Foundation, Harry Hampton Memorial Wildlife Fund, SC Association of Conservation Districts, Richland Conservation District and the SC Forestry Foundation.
If you are interested in lending your support to this program, or learning more about it, contact the SC Envirothon by telephone at 803-734-4602.