Benet team represents state of Illinois at National Envirothon
Five students from Benet Academy in Lisle recently were honored to represent the state of Illinois at the National Envirothon in Pocatello, Idaho.
The annual event is sponsored by the National Conservation Foundation and is hosted by a different state each year.
This year, the event was hosted by Idaho, and held at Idaho State University from July 22-28.
The Benet team consisted of five students Sarah Habeck (Class of 2018), Ryan Habeck (Class of 2018), Brice Dirl (Class of 2018), Kaylie Scorza (Class of 2019), and Paul Skaluba (Class of 2020).
A team from each of 43 U.S. states, five Canadian provinces, and two Chinese provinces vied for the top spot.
But the week offered much more than competition for students who traveled to Idaho from around the world.
The students participated in field trips, training sessions, hands-on activities, a visit to a geyser, and country dancing.
Little time was left for sleep.
A greater part of each day was spent outside in the desert heat, which topped 95 degrees.
The students studied desert ecology, toured potato farms, visited a ghost town and the Soda Springs geyser, learned about the local geology including seeing steaming lava cones, crossed portions of the Oregon Trail, and learned to square dance in a horse barn.
Firsthand accounts of the business side of farming and the economic issues surrounding ranching and farming were provided by discussions with local cattle ranchers and potato farmers. The students made new friends from around the country and the world.
The actual competition consisted of tests on five environmental topics: forestry, wildlife, soils, aquatics, and this year's special topic, "Rangelands." Appropriate since Idaho State University is found in the middle of rangeland.
On Friday, all teams presented their critical 20-minute formal presentation to a panel of judges, in which they provided their recommended solution to a real-world environmental problem scenario.
The Illinois team placed 16th overall out of the 50 teams.
New York took first place, leaving the Benet team somewhat disappointed.
However, given that the Benet team had never participated at the national competition in the past, the team feels they know what they need to do to win in 2019.
Overall, the team agrees that competing at the Envirothon was an amazing learning opportunity.
More information about the NCF-Envirothon can be found at www.envirothon.org.
A spreadsheet of the results can be seen at www.envirothon.org.