29 RLCC Students Attend Minnesota Area Envirothon

Every year students from different school districts compete at the Minnesota Area Envirothons. Envirothon is an outdoor learning event for high school students in grades ninth through twelve and is one of the largest environmental education competitions.
The first Envirothon program called ‘Environmental Olympics’ began in Pennsylvania in 1979. In 1993, Minnesota’s first Envirothon included about 100 students from the Twin Cities area. By 1996, Minnesota hosted competitions in each region. Now approximately 1,000 students participate throughout the regional competitions in Minnesota. The goals of Envirothon include helping students become informed citizens making educated decisions as well as helping them develop into leaders who will impact the quality of life in our communities.
The Northwest (Middle) Envirothon was held April 29, 2015 at the Rydell National Wildlife Refuge in Erskine Minnesota. Teams of five students from the same school visited six different learning stations covering Aquatics, Forestry, Soils, Wildlife, and a current environmental topic that is different each year. Students were given a 25-point exam relating to the topic of each station. At the sixth station, the students were required to give a brief oral presentation to judges.
This year’s Envirothon oral presentation focused on Urban/Community Forestry. The scenario was “The mayor has appointed your team to work together to create a proposal for the long-term implementation of reforestation efforts in the city that will be presented to the city council prior to the fiscal year 2016’s budgetary meetings.” Each team of students will try and convince the judges that trees are good for cities and the environment.
RLCC attendees in teams were: Ric Ven Auman, Mickala Morinville, Mikayla Paradis, Brian Roue, and Sierra Swenson; Kjersten Walton, Miranda Magnell, Devin Lambert, Seth Johnson, and Asia Davis; Lawrence Dow, Marcus Christensen, Cade Bachand, and Chase Agnes; Deidra Walton, Kelsie Sirjord, Tera Qualley, Brandon Lee, and Mary Auman; Morgan Bushelle, Natalie Aakhus, Shelby Gunderson, Sydney Melby, and Katie Olson; Seth Paradis, Nick Pahlen, Kara Longtin, Jayden Fore, and Hannah Kolstoe. Also attending was RLCC supervisor Mr. Steven Strutz.
Top teams that placed this year were Climax Fisher with first, Mahnomen with second, and Crookston with third place. Students that attended Envirothon said that the weather was beautiful and they enjoyed the opportunity to be able to go.