DHS Envirothon teams compete at state contest

Two Decorah High School Envirothon teams recently competed in the Iowa state Envirothon contest held at Springbrook State Park, Guthrie Center.  The Envirothon contest consisted of testing a five person team on their knowledge of Aquatics, Forestry, Soils, and Wildlife.  In addition, each team presented a fifteen-minute speech concerning wetland establishment and wise stewardship of agricultural land.  The team with the top composite score on the tests and speech received an invitation to compete at the international Canon Envirothon.  This year's international contest will be held in New Brunswick, Canada in late July.

Decorah Gaea finished in sixth place at the state but was only separated from finishing in fourth by .5 point.   Gaea only missed one question on the Aquatics test and finished first in the Aquatics test among all fifteen teams present for the state contest.
 
Decorah Stonefly Sanctuary finished in eighth place after the testing and oral presentation.  Their score on the Forestry test was the best of all the teams competing at the competition.   When you consider there were only five categories that were tested at the competition, having both your teams win one of those categories is a significant accomplishment.  As an advisor for the Envirothon, I cannot begin to say how proud I am of all of the students that took time out of their busy schedules to participate in the Envirothon.  No other school in the state can boast that they had thirty students willing to learn about their roles in our  environment .  These students will definitely make a difference in their future world.

The Envirothon teams and their advisor, Larry Berland, would like to thank the many supporters of outdoor education that helped the teams prepare for this year's contest.  These supporters include: Rob Bolson,  Kevin Sand,  Teresa Shay, Terry Haindfield, Paul Berland,  and Amanda Huinker.

Pictures:

Decorah Gaea: Tessa Kraus, Colin Zidlicky, Andrew
Storlie, Erin Voss, Aaron Kvale

Stonefly Sanctuary: Devon Hovey, Parker Beard, Jay Lee,
Scotty Hendricks, Thomas Locke

Gaea

Stonefly Sanctuary