Dozens of area students learn about nature at Venango Envirothon

By HELEN FIELDING, The Derrick and The News-Herald
Published April 20, 2024 - click here for article

About 60 area students circled through the pavilions of the Crosby Beach area on a cloudy day at Two Mile Run County Park on Friday, answering questions about trees, birds, soils, bugs and other natural topics.

The 2024 Venango County Envirothon, put on by the Venango Conservation District, brought 12 teams of about five students each from Cranberry, Oil City, Rocky Grove, and Venango Catholic high schools to test their knowledge on topics including wildlife, forestry, soils and land use, aquatic ecology, and current environmental issues, which this year was the issue of renewable energy.

The annual natural resources competition is open to schools and students throughout the county, and Conservation District watershed specialist Bailey Kozalla, who coordinated this year’s Envirothon, said its goal is to expose students to the natural world and the issues it faces, “to spark that next generation of environmental stewards,” she said.

In addition to teaching environmental facts, the goal of the program is also to instill an understanding of the ecological and community factors involved in environmental decisions and actions, particularly in areas such as water quality, ecosystems, solid waste management and land use, according to materials provided by the Venango Conservation District.

The Tunnel Rats team from Cranberry High School took top honors in Friday’s competition, and they will be moving on to the state-level Envirothon to compete against other county winners at Camp Mount Luther in Mifflinburg on May 22.

Team members were juniors Dane Wenner and Kelsey Hanna and sophomores Jadyn Shumaker, Mariner Perry and Dalton Wenner.

The Dam Woodcocks team from Rocky Grove High School came in second place, and Oil City Team One took third place.

A training day for the competition was held in March, and representatives of several agencies led the stations at the training day and at Friday’s competition.

Teachers and local natural resources professionals instruct the students prior to the testing day, although Venango County state game warden Samuel Terwilliger explained that testing-station leaders aren’t allowed to strictly teach “to the test,” and teams have to do their own learning before test day with the help of resources from the Pennsylvania Envirothon.

Jane Burkett, agricultural conservation technician for the Conservation District, said schools can do the program a few different ways, sometimes as an elective, sometimes as an after-school program, and sometimes simply as a student-led endeavor coordinated by teachers.

The Conservation District and other natural resource agencies are there as a resource to help the students learn, and some schools will invite representatives of the agencies to do educational programs prior to the testing day.

“The state (Association for Conservation Districts) gave us a bin full of tracks and scat and pelts, so we can give those to teachers to help with learning,” Burkett said. “This past year, they gave us soil samples and soil profiles, and a stuffed trout, so the students can see what a brook trout looks like.”

Kozalla said she did Envirothon when she was in high school, and for many of her fellow competitors who enjoyed hunting and fishing, “it really gave them a place to shine with the knowledge they’d gathered through that,” she said.

“I was one of those kids that wasn’t into organized sports, and Envirothon was a place where I could show my stuff. And for the kids who didn’t grow up with it, it’s a chance for them to get exposed to it.”

The competition originated in Pennsylvania in 1979 in the Fulton, Luzerne and Schuylkill conservation districts, then called “Envirolympics,” and Envirothon has since spread across the state and to more than 45 states, eight Canadian provinces and territories, and two Chinese provinces.

Venango County has been participating for decades.

“Bailey’s done a really good job building back Envirothon back up after COVID,” said Conservation District manager Lisette Lane. “It lost quite a bit of interest during COVID.”

Confidence, study time and results varied from team to team on Friday, but there was one thing everyone had in common. When asked by Kozalla prior to the awards ceremony whether they had a good time, a resounding “Yeah!” came from the assembled students in the park office.

“It’s fun, very fun,” said senior Hailey Gunnery, a member of Rocky Grove’s Leap Frogs team. “I love being able to be outside, learning about all of the nature stuff and issues facing the world, and being with friends.”