ENVIROTHON students from Three Oaks Senior High in Summerside were extremely pleased with their performance at the recent 2005 Canon ENVIROTHON in Springfield, Missouri. Team Captain Ashley Martin, and her teammates Jessica McGill, Stephanie Barlow, Melissa McCabe, and Shana Linkletter finished third among Canadian teams and 37th overall at the July competition.
Minister of Environment, Energy and Forestry Jamie Ballem, offered his congratulations to the students and their advisors Stephen and Tara Wenn.
“This is the best-ever finish for a PEI team and demonstrates these students’ hard work and dedication,” said Minister Ballem. “Prince Edward Island has strong connections between its people and its natural resources. I believe our Provincial Forest ENVIROTHON offers these young people insights into the complexities of the natural world and will help them to make decisions in future which benefit our environment, economy, and society.”
ENVIROTHON is a voluntary science program offered by the Department of Environment, Energy and Forestry for senior high students. It focuses on natural resource sciences such as forestry, wildlife, aquatics and soils. Over the years, many Island schools and students have participated. They learn by studying modules on their own time and by participating in lectures and field trips with professionals who work in various fields of science.
Students also work on a fifth subject which changes from year to year. In 2005, they worked on Conserving Cultural Landscapes by studying how people and cultures are affected by the landscape around them and they in turn influence and shape the landscape.
“Island students were asked to identify and define the cultural aspects of PEI’s traditional landscape and to develop effective strategies for the conservation of those aspects,” noted Ken Mayhew, PEI ENVIROTHON co-ordinator. “These issues are common in most of the developed world and played a central role in the 2005 ENVIROTHON challenge in Missouri.”
Prince Edward Island has competed in ENVIROTHON since 1999 and sent teams to California, Nova Scotia, Maryland, Mississippi, West Virginia, and Massachusetts. There are currently four Island high schools actively involved in the Provincial Forest ENVIROTHON but Mayhew indicated that the program has room to expand. He encouraged teachers and students with an interest in outdoor education and natural resource sciences to contact him at the PEI Department of Environment, Energy and Forestry by calling (902) 368-6450.