Delaware Envirothon training workshops begin Oct. 12
The 19th season of the Delaware Envirothon, sponsored by the Delaware Association of Conservation Districts, will begin with its first training workshop from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 12, at Blackbird State Forest, just north of Smyrna. The second training workshop will be held Saturday, Nov. 9, at the University of Delaware Cooperative Extension office in Dover. The final training workshop will be held Saturday, Jan. 25, 2014, at the St. Jones Reserve in Dover.
The Delaware Envirothon provides challenging environmental education and hands-on instruction, correlated to state education standards, to participating teams of high school age students. Throughout the year, students learn about the resource topics of aquatic ecology, forestry, soils and land use, wildlife, air quality, and a sixth topic that changes each year. The topic for 2014 is sustainable agriculture/locally grown.
During the spring competition, which will be held Thursday, April 10, 2014, students will be tested on their knowledge of the natural resource topics. Also, students must prepare an oral presentation to provide an answer for the given scenario based on the resource topics. Teams will be competing in the Delaware Envirothon to receive college scholarships and cash awards and to represent Delaware at the 2014 North American Envirothon next summer at the University of Georgia in Athens.
“The Charter School of Wilmington Team A recently returned from Bozeman, Mont., where they represented Delaware in the North American Envirothon. Delaware came in seventh place out of 57 teams representing 47 states, nine Canadian provinces and one Canadian territory,” said Rick Mickowski, chair of the Delaware Envirothon planning committee.
“Preparations are well underway for the 2014 competition and we are looking for additional students and adults from across the state interested in environmental education and stewardship and becoming involved with the Delaware Envirothon. Teams representing public schools, private schools, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, home-schooled students, and 4H members are welcome to participate.”
To register for the workshops or to receive more information about the program, contact Rick Mickowski at 302-832-3100, Ext. 113. Additional information about the Delaware Envirothon can also be found at www.delawareenvirothon.org.
