Boyce & Fort Couch sweep Envirothon
May 13, 2024
Junior Envirothon is a natural resource environmental education program that combines classroom learning and outdoor activities. Modeled after the annual state-wide high school Envirothon, students compete in small teams across five domains, or stations, including Aquatic Ecology, Forestry, Soils and Land Use, Wildlife, and Current Issues. This year's Current Issues were renewable energy and resources.
The Boyce team of Brayden Wong, Alex Zhang, Mateo Lin, Yusuf Unlu, and Siddh Patel placed first and had the top overall score in the Current Issues category. The Fort Couch team of Hope Waldron, Eliot Kim, Cynthia Shen, Sunny Liu, and Mira Murthy finished second with the top overall score in the Soils & Land Use category. Placing third was the Fort Couch team of Aanya Agrawal, Suhavi Singh, Ahana Mendhi, Maria Alfredon-Themudo, and Lindsey Fitzgerald.
While inclement weather kept the students inside, local environmental experts were still on hand to run the testing stations and a variety of specimens were there for examination and identification. The students completed multiple choice questions about the various categories, and identified bird and frog calls, plants, animal pelts, and aquatic species.
The students were led by gifted education teachers Sherri Garvey, Boyce Middle School, and Tom Yochum, Fort Couch Middle School.
"This is a fun event that tests the students' knowledge of the environmental sciences in an engaging, hands-on manner,” Mr. Yochum said. “The winning teams dedicated the past two months toward preparing for the competition. The weather wasn't ideal, but the results certainly were!”
For more information regarding the Envirothon, visit http://www.envirothonpa.org/.
