Two Envirothon teams from Decorah High School have qualified for the State Envirothon contest at Springbrook State Park on April 18th. Actually, four DHS teams placed in the top 15 statewide, but only the top two finishing teams from any high school can go to the state meet as a result of the "Decorah Rule," which was put into effect five years ago after Decorah sent four teams to the state meet.
The "Decorah Gaea" team, consisting of Erin Voss, Colin Zidlicky, Tessa
Kraus, Andrew Storlie and Aaron Kvale, finished first overall. The "Decorah Stonefly Sanctuary" team of Scotty Hendricks, Thomas Locke, Jay Lee, Devon Hovey and Parker Beard finished eighth overall. The "Decorah Enviromasters" finished eleventh, with Maddie Johansen, Jon Werner, Bethany Davidson, Sarah Brandt and Jonathan Knudsen on the team. "Decorah Supafly," consisting of Claire Breitenstein, Mitch Burgraff, Josie Jewell, Tyler Hovey and Emily Alcock, finished 13th. Two other Decorah teams competed--"Decorah Buckthorn Invasives, with Holt Johansen, Rebecca Alcock, Laura Munkel, Nick Vandekrol and Bryton Meyer, and "Decorah DBS," with Jenny Henry, Hannah Leeper, Kylie Kozelka, Brianna Carolan and Ian Wold. Larry Berland is the coach of the Decorah High School Envirothon program.
Envirothon is the largest environmental centered contest in North America. The Envirothon questions students on their knowledge of Aquatics, Forestry, Soil Science, and Wildlife. The winner of the state contest is automatically qualified to compete at the national contest to be held at Mt. Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick in July.
PHOTO: (Front row, left to right): Jonathan Knudsen, Maddie Johansen, Sarah Brandt, Bethany Davidson and John Werner. (Second row, left to right): Mitch Burgraff, Tyler Hovey, Holt Johansen, Nick Vandekrol, Bryton Meyer, Laura Munkel, Scotty Hendricks and Rebecca Alcock. (Standing, left to right): Josie Jewell, Devon Hovey, Emily Alcock, Parker Beard, Claire Breitenstein, Ian Wold, Kylie Kozelka, Jay Lee, Brianna Carolan, Thomas Locke, Jenny Henry, Colin Zidlicky, Hannah Leeper, Andrew Storlie, Aaron Kvale, Tessa Kraus and Erin Voss.