Bangor, ME – May 31, 2011 – As a result of the State Envirothon held on May 26th at the University of Maine in Augusta, Jay High School will represent Maine at the international Canon Envirothon competition. The Maine Association of Conservation Districts awarded plaques to the three top-scoring high school Envirothon teams at the event. The first, second and third place winning teams respectively were: Jay High School, Bonny Eagle from Standish, and Boghaunter Home School from Gray/Casco. Sixteen teams representing 16 high schools from around the state competed at this event.
Envirothon, Maine’s largest high school environmental education program, is an international program representing over 500,000 high school students in the United States and Canada. First place Jay High School will represent Maine at the international Canon Envirothon competition to be held in New Brunswick, Canada in late July. The international Canon Envirothon, organized by local conservation districts and other conservation agencies, is sponsored by Canon USA, in partnership with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, USDA Forest Service, National Association of Conservation Districts, Mead Westvaco Corporation, American Electric Power, Inc., and Alcoa Foundation.
The major objective of the Maine Envirothon, an effective educational tool capable of supplementing environmental education both inside and outside the classroom, is to provide opportunities for high school students or organized groups of high school-aged students to acquire and increase their outdoor skills and scientific knowledge about Maine’s natural resources so that they can make informed, educated decisions about the environment. It provides students with reference materials, workshops, and hands-on, outdoor, real-life experiences in five areas including forestry, wildlife, soils, aquatics, and a current issue—this year being Protection of Fresh and Saltwater Marshes.
Other high schools competing in the State Envirothon finals included: Belfast, Ellsworth, Greely, Hampden Academy, Hodgdon, Lee Academy, Lisbon, Livermore Falls, Mt. Ararat, Nokomis, Piscataquis Community, Presque Isle and Washington Academy. These teams represented the top four winning teams from four regional competitions held around the state earlier in May, with the exception of Hampden Academy and Livermore Falls, who placed fifth in the regional competition but replaced Brunswick High School and Old Town High School who were eligible but unable to attend.
The Envirothon program would not be possible without the financial and in-kind support, expertise and/or time commitment from many natural resource-related partners. Resource specialists who cooperated in the 2011 State Envirothon included: Maine Department of Agriculture, Maine Department of Environmental Protection, Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, Maine Forest Service, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, and Maine’s Soil and Water Conservation Districts.
Major sponsors of the 2011 State Envirothon were: Plum Creek, a “Gold Sponsor”; Poland Spring, a “Silver Sponsor”; the Maine Association of Professional Soil Scientists; Maine Wild Blueberry Commission; Maine Potato Board; Maine Association of Site Evaluators; Maine Association of Wetland Scientists; Maine Chapter Society of American Foresters; Maine Department of Environmental Protection; New England Organics; University of Maine School of Natural Resources and Canon North American Envirothon.
There were many other contributors and partners that helped to make this event possible for the benefit of the students and Maine’s natural resources.
As part of the closing festivities at the State Envirothon, Poland Spring representatives presented a $500 check to the winning Jay High School team as a start to their funding-raising activities to pay for their travel expenses to the international Canon Envirothon competition. In addition, the USDA Natural Resources will offer a summer internship position to a senior on the winning team. Scholarships announced at the event from the University of Maine were: $2,000 from the College of Natural Sciences, Forestry and Agriculture to Miranda Sabine from Central High School, and Justin Libby from Old Town High School received a $2,000 scholarship from the School of Forest Resources.
An Envirothon web site for all interested teachers and students is available at http://maineenvirothon.org/ or http://www.envirothon.org/.
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