Envirothon Team from Leelanau County to Represent Michigan at Canon North American Envirothon Teams from Glen Lake High School, the Webberville FFA Chapter and the Branch Area Careers Center finished first through third respectively at the 2008 Michigan Envirothon State Competition.

Twenty three high school teams, representing Branch, Tuscola, Leelanau, Oakland, Van Buren, Shiawassee, Berrien, Muskegon, Macomb, Ingham, Genesee, Chippewa, Dickinson and Kalamazoo counties met at the Lake Superior State University, in Sault Ste. Marie on May 15th and 16th, for the State Competition.

The Michigan Envirothon program is an exciting and challenging way for high school students, and their adult advisors, to learn about natural resources. The program is designed to foster critical thinking, wise stewardship and community involvement. The purpose of Envirothon is to provide environmental education to high school students, their team advisors, and their communities, throughout the state of Michigan.

Students form teams of five, with up to four alternate members, to prepare for the statewide competition that occurs annually. The teams study seven different subject areas, including:

Aquatic Ecology, Energy, Forestry, Soils/Geology, Sustainable Agriculture, Wildlife, and an Environmental Issue that changes every year. The 2008 issue is Recreational Impacts on Natural Resources. The teams are also required to complete a written report and an oral presentation, scored by a panel of judges, for their Community Outreach Project as part of the competition.

Michigan Envirothon emphasizes hands-on learning in the outdoors; field trips and one-on-one training with resource professionals is highly encouraged. Teams receive training from professionals that work for Conservation Districts, the Michigan Department of Agriculture, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, and many others. This not only provides a unique learning opportunity for the students, but also gives them an opportunity to learn of the many career opportunities they can have if they continue to study the environment and natural resources. At a minimum, students participating in Envirothon become stewards of the environment and retain those values as they become adult community leaders.

All of the teams participating in the 2008 Michigan Envirothon State Competition did a great job and deserve recognition for their efforts. The students made a great impression on the many adult volunteers that attended the event, not only with their intelligence and dedication, but in their ability to work hard and diligently on their projects and tests during the two-day event. The State Competition took place during the 2008 AmeriCorps Week and 15 members from Michigan Environmental Stewardship AmeriCorps and Huron Pines AmeriCorps helped making thecompetition a great event.

During the awards ceremony at the closing of the two-day event the top winners were announced. The three top winning teams received plaques, a trophy, Michigan Envirothon notebooks and an Olivet College “Community Responsibility Scholarship” of $2,000 per year for 4 years. Prizes were also given to the teams that scored highest on their Community Outreach Projects and for teams scoring highest on tests in each subject area.

The First-Place place prize went to Team Awesome from the Glen Lake High School in Maple City. Team members include Hali Sobczak, Marisa Glazier, Ashley Leach and Hannah and Skye Hillier. The Team Advisor is Karen Richard.

Second-Place went to the Webberville FFA team from the Webberville High School in Webberville. Team members include Corinne Huntley, Cassie Benjamin, Nicki Brockmiller, Andy Clark and Devin Brown. The Team Advisors are Loretta Benjamin and Dave Brown.

Third-Place went to the BACC 2 team from the Branch Area Careers Center in Coldwater. Team members include Kaitlyn Hard, Jacob Bildner, Charlie Harvey, Chris Pierucki and Corey Rekeweg. The Team Advisors are Bill Earl and Bing Johnson.

The First-Place Winner, Team Awesome will now be moving on to represent Michigan in the Canon North American Envirothon Competition to be held July 28th through August 3rd in Flagstaff, Arizona. The week long event, to take place at Northern Arizona University, will bring together Envirothon teams from 44 states and 8 Canadian provinces.

The 2008 Envirothon is sponsored in part by the Michigan Association of Conservation Districts, Michigan's Conservation Districts, Huron Pines AmeriCorps, Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Michigan Department of Agriculture, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Consumers Energy, Consumers Energy Foundation, Canon Envirothon, Canon U.S.A. Inc., Olivet College and Potawatomi Resource Conservation & Development Council.

For information about participating in or sponsoring the Michigan Envirothon, please contact Svenja Drebes at (517) 324-4421, or mienvirothon@macd.org.