UCA next week will host the 2007 Arkansas Envirothon State Competition. The Envirothon, which will take place next Sunday and Monday on the UCA campus, was established as a competitive, multi-disciplinary, problem-solving, natural resource event for high school students to challenge their environmental knowledge. The Envirothon program encourages students to pursue environmental knowledge actively.
Team sponsors and coaches train and test students in five natural resource areas: soils, aquatics, forestry, wildlife, and a current environmental issue such as wetlands management, groundwater, fire, or pesticides. Students challenge their knowledge in a problem-solving competition that entails “hands on” involvement with natural resource information. In addition to five written, field-station tests that cover the five study areas, they must give an oral presentation in which they form possible solutions to a realistic environmental problem dealing with the current issue. Envirothon teams take an in-depth look at these issues throughout the year, and by competing in the Envirothon, they not only learn about their state’s natural resources, problems and solutions, they also learn about team building, communications, and conservation partnerships.
Each conservation area (there are seven in the state) may send up to three teams of five students to the Arkansas Envirothon competition, for a total of 21 competing teams. As needed, the districts set up a local, area-level competition to decide which 3 teams advance to the state level. The state competition is generally held in the fall of each year.
The overall winner of the state competition advances to the Canon Envirothon, which is hosted by a different state or province each year. For more information about the competition, visit www.uaex.edu/envirothon.
