Two Decorah HS envirothon teams qualify for State

(Left to right): "Decorah Ospreys" team members Shai Shay, Steven Holkesvik, Richard Weis, Dalton Brown and Parker Fretheim

Two Decorah High School Envirothon Teams have qualified for the State Envirothon competition to be held at Springbrook State Park on April 13th.

For the 13th straight year Decorah HIgh School had the most qualifying teams of any school in Iowa participating in the regional contests.  But only two teams from any one school are allowed to move on to the state competition due to a rule change brought about by Decorah qualifying four teams for the state contest a few years back. 

The Envirothon tests the students' knowledge of aquatics, forestry, soils, wildlife, and a special topic dealing with an environmental issue facing Iowa.  This year's topic was the potential effect of the Emerald Ash Borer upon urban forests across the state.

The two teams moving on to state competition are the "Decorah Ospreys" team of Shai Shay, Dalton Brown, Steven Holkesvik, Parker Fretheim and Richard Weis, who tied for both the highest score in the state on the aquatics test and the highest total score on all of the tests in the state, and the "Decorah Brookies" team of Tess Olinger, Shelby Stalberger, Isaac Marquardt, Carl Sand and Caleb Ulring.

Other teams competing but not qualifying for state were the "Decorah Eagles" team of Shania Kelly, Devin Schroeder, Hannah Rooney, Christopher Miculinich and Everett Wegge; the "Decorah FFA" team of  Maddie Hoyme, Ashley Schwartzhoff, Daiton Tietz, Sarah Zidlicky and Sondra Zidlicky; and the "Decorah Falcons" team of Isabel Iverson, Kally Peterson, Bryce Hosting, Jackson Varney and Gabe Varney.

(Left to right): The "Decorah Brookies" team of Tess Olinger, Shelby Stalberger, Carl Sand, Tess Olinger, Isaac Marquardt and Caleb Ulring