The Honourable George Webster, Minister of Environment, Energy and Forestry, announced today that a team from Three Oaks High School was the winner for the 2008 Provincial Forest Envirothon which was held in Brookvale and Camp Riverdale on October 26 and 27, 2007. As the overall winners, they will be traveling to Flagstaff, Arizona next summer to compete in the 2008 Canon Envirothon with teams from across United States and Canada.
“Students in grades 9 through 12 from across Canada and United States have an opportunity to compete for significant scholarships and awards during the Canon Envirothon,” noted Minister Webster. “This autumn, nine teams from Three Oaks High School, Bluefield High School, Charlottetown Rural High School, Colonel Grey High School, and Kensington Intermediate Senior High School prepared for and competed in the 2008 Provincial Forest Envirothon.”
To prepare for the Provincial Forest Envirothon, students study science concepts in forestry, aquatics, soils and wildlife for field competitions on Provincial Forest lands. This year, these field competitions were held at the Brookvale Nordic Ski Park and the adjacent Provincial Forest. Minister Webster noted that, “The winner of the forestry and aquatics competitions and co-winner of the soils competition was the Three Oaks Team, consisting of Aira MacCaull, Rebecca Wolfe, Jerrica Shea, Emily Callbeck and Desiree Perry. Their team advisors were Heather Pringle and Chris Higginbotham. Bluefield High School's Team, made up of Colin Stetson, Colin McQuillan, James Pendergast, Victoria Doan and Ellen Dixon, was the co-winner of the soils competition. Their teacher advisors were Darcy Flynn and Lisa Ling. The Charlottetown Rural High School's Team, which consisted of Josh Coles, Chris Francis, Kaleb Zelman, Cearagh Vessey and Joseph Wonnacott, won the wildlife competition. Their teacher advisors were Rob Redmond and Brenda Brydon.”
In addition to the field segment of international Canon Envirothon, the teams must use their field skills to design solutions to a special management area. During the 2008 Envirothon competitions, the teams had to look at recreational impacts on natural resources. The teams must prepare and present their solutions to evaluators who assess the utilization of the four field skills, the team’s understanding of the problem, the logic of their solutions and their presentation skills.
Minister Webster congratulated the Three Oaks Team #1 noted above as the overall winner of the 2008 Provincial Forest Envirothon competition.