A local team of five high school students placed among the best in the country.
Jamestown High School’s Envirothon team had already won the Virginia environmental competition — now, they’ve taken home third place in the National Conservation Foundation Envirothon nationals.
Joanna Stathopoulos, Anna Song, Rachel Smith, Lisa Small and Audrey Root each took home $1,000 in scholarships after their performance at the national competition in Idaho last week, according to Dominion Energy. The utility company has sponsored the Virginia Envirothon competition since 2012.
Teams in the Envirothon competitions go through five field test stations, with topics including wildlife, soil, forestry, aquatics and current environmental issues.
Teams are prompted to answer questions in written and hands-on ways before a panel of judges composed of professionals in the field.
The national competition also included teams from China and Canada. There were 50 teams total.
Jamestown’s team finished first in the oral presentation category and tied for first in the wildlife category.
Jamestown’s team has spent the last year preparing for the finals, meeting two or more times a week and putting in several more hours of environmental research on their own.
Each team member dedicated themselves to a specific topic. Root is the team’s wildlife expert, Small focuses on soils, Smith studies aquatics, Song handles forestry and Stathopoulus prepared for this year’s special topic, which is rangeland management.
The Mount Academy from Esopus, New York, and Pembroke High School from Kansas City, Missouri, finished first and second, respectively.
