Envirothon is a nature-focused club in which students learn about the environment and compete in competitions with various topics. This year, the Envirothon team is returning to the state competition. 

“I’m excited to advance to states,” Envirothon member Delliah Thomas said. “I think we have a pretty good chance. We’ve done pretty well in the past, and I think that as long as we just keep up studying and get everything done, we’re gonna do pretty great.”

Before competitions, the club learns about different topics including forestry, aquatics, soils, wildlife, and a special topic that changes yearly; this year’s special topic is non-point source pollution. 

“Non-point source pollution is pollution that we can’t identify where it comes from,” Thomas said. “Point source pollution is pollution that you can identify. It could be coming from a factory or a certain pipe or something like that. But non-point source pollution is just like everyday pollution, and you can’t pinpoint it, so you can’t really solve the problem.”

Envirothon competitions have three main levels: districts, regionals, and states. In the regional competition, the team collaborated with different stations related to the four main topics. 

“In the station for forestry, we had to measure trees, identify forestry equipment and identify trees,” Envirothon member Kassie Polson said. “For aquatics, you have to do stuff with water pollution, and turbidity. Also, for wildlife, you have to identify scats and traits that come along with that.” 

The team also collaborated on a 20 minute oral presentation on non-point source pollution. Each participant gets a four-minute segment of the presentation. This year’s presentation focused on solutions for a theoretical property that would become a horse farm that didn’t affect the environment. 

“Our points were having a cost effective barn using airplane hangars,” Envirothon member Isaac Capozella said. “Rain gardens to collect rain water and reduce run-off, and use rain barrels to collect water for the plants so the family doesn’t have to overuse their well.”

The Envirothon clubs’ group effort in the previous competitions has rewarded them with the opportunity to compete in states. They will continue to practice together until the state competition.

“I just think it’s like useful stuff to learn, the people are good, the community is great, and Miss J is freaking epic too,” Polson said.