In 2022, both our Area 2 and state Envirothon competitions will be held in Northeast Ohio. And the 2022 international NCF Envirothon will be held on July 24 - 30 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. The Envirothon is an international, academic, outdoor competition for high school students, which is designed to stimulate, reinforce and enhance interest in the environment and natural resources. This is an amazing opportunity for students in Cuyahoga County to be a part of this exciting program that takes students outdoors to learn about environmental topics of soils, aquatics, forestry and wildlife. Additionally, this years current environmental issue is "Waste to Resources" - chosen because of the importance of sustainability in our highly populated state.
Cuyahoga SWCD offers training kits that teachers can borrow and training assistance to Cuyahoga County schools that are interested in fielding Envirothon teams. Each high school can send up to two teams to the Area 2 competition. Each team consists of 5 members and up to 5 alternates. Five Area Envirothons are conducted around Ohio each spring. The top four teams from each of these Area competitions progress to the Ohio Envirothon in June. This state level contest is held in a different part of Ohio each year. The top-scoring team in the Ohio Envirothon is eligible to compete in the International Envirothon, hosted by a different state or province each year. Cash prizes are awarded at the state and international levels.
This program offers students a great opportunity to network with natural resource professionals and compete through team problem solving activities. While each student on an Envirothon team is challenged to contribute his or her personal best, the score that counts at the end of an Envirothon is the team score.
Now is the time to get teams started and contact us to plan training sessions. The state competition only comes to our area every 5 years and the international competition might not come to Ohio again for decades. Please encourage your school to team up to take advantage of this great opportunity!
Blog author: Jacki Zevenbergen, Stormwater Education Program Manager