Concordia High School Takes the Win at State Envirothon High School Natural Resources Competition

Lincoln, NE – The 2017 Nebraska Envirothon State Championship team hails from Concordia High School. Concordia will now prepare for the North American Envirothon competition in Emmitsburg, Maryland in July. This is Concordia High School’s fifth win at the state competition. The state contest was held at Wildcat Hills State Recreation Area in Gering, Nebraska on Wednesday, April 26, 2017. Student teams, consisting of five members, first competed in regional contests held across the state.  The highest scoring teams had the opportunity to compete at the state competition.

The five-member teams compete in seven areas of environmental studies: soils, aquatics, forestry, wildlife, range, policy and present on a current environmental issue. This year, the students prepared presentations on agricultural soil and water problems in Nebraska.  Test questions are not only written, but many require hands-on observations, measurements and calculations.

“The students study for weeks before the competition,” said Jim Johnson, board member of the Nebraska Association of Resources Districts (NARD) and chair of the Information and Education Board Committee. “We hope these students find a true passion for Nebraska’s natural resources by participating in this competition and consider careers in these fields after high school.”

Members of the first-place team from Concordia High School are Grace Trembath, Gabby Minneman, Aubrey Grasz, Bridget Backer, and Mackenzie Torosian.  Their coach is Mike Ellis, a teacher at Concordia High School. The State Runner-up team was from Sumner-Eddyville-Miller High School. Sidney High School took third place. This year there were 14 schools that competed at the state competition.  High schools that participated this year include Southern Valley, Sumner-Eddyville-Miller (SEM), Sidney, Norris, Ord, Concordia Team 1 and Team 2, Pender, St. Paul, Mullen, Burwell, Millard South, Aurora and Arapahoe High School.

Nebraska Association of Resources Districts (NARD) Foundation is the annual sponsor of the Nebraska Envirothon. The first, second, and third overall placing teams received recognition from the Nebraska Association of Resources Districts Foundation. NARD gave $1,500 to the first place winning team, $1,000 to the second place winning team and $500 to the third place winning team. Each team must use the money to enhance their high school’s natural resources and agriculture programs. The winning team can also use it to help pay their way to the national competition. Each team member on the winning team was also awarded a $500 scholarship by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to be used towards a major in the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.

Other sponsors and supporters for this year’s Envirothon include Smithfield Foods – Omaha, Lincoln and Crete campuses, FYRA Engineering, Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS), Midwest Laboratories, Nebraska Forest Service, Farm Credit Services of America, Platte River Recovery Implementation Program, HDR, Olsson Associates, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and University of Nebraska-Lincoln School of Natural Resources.

Find out more about how you can get involved in the Nebraska Envirothon by going to www.nrdnet.org.