Environthon makes it to states
March 28, 2017
There have been many wins recently for our school. Our sports teams, auto shop and art students, and even clubs have all added some wins to their repertoire. On Friday, March 10, the Environthon Club competed with other schools on their knowledge of the environment. Environthon is a club that studies different things about the environment and how to help it. The club has four members: senior Joe Kovalchick, juniors Kyle Rumer and Philip Longueuil, and seventh grader Nolan Richendollar.
The club meets every Tuesday in science teacher Melvin Richendollar’s room to study for the competition. The team has won in recent years, but have not made it to nationals. This year, the team won first place at regionals. They were driven to Kresge Environmental Center by Scott Palmer to take the test. They were given a brief review of the topics such as forestry, wildlife, soils, aquatic ecology, and energy. There was a guide that led all the teams around to different parts of the center to refresh their understandings of the topics. Then they took a test that was thirty minutes long.
The team really enjoyed the trip, because they all like to expand their knowledge of the environment.
“I really like the club and think it will benefit me for my future career, because I want to be a conservationist when I get older,” Rumer said.
All the members want to keep up the wins and have dreams to win states. In order to win nationals, the qualifying teams have to come up with an environmental project that could benefit the environment. Our school’s team is discussing different ideas that they think would help them win. Last year, our team placed by surveying fellow students if they were willing to plant gardens to help the environment. The project won 2nd place last year.
The club is both educational and entertaining for the members. Learning about the environment helps increase knowledge when the members are out in nature.
“I enjoy hiking and touring with my family about five times a year. It is fun to be able to classify plants and animal sounds. The extra knowledge greatly enhances my experience,” Longueuil said.
You could also benefit from the club and appreciate nature a lot more. The club would love new members next year.
“The club is really fun and I would like to keep it up all the way through high school,” Nolan Richendollar said.
