![Texas Envirothon State Champion team from South Texas ISD Science Academy]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_1/v1650560936/stisdnet/ofebcmrfs2wzog4ttdrh/SA-Enviro.png","width":256},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_2/v1650560936/stisdnet/ofebcmrfs2wzog4ttdrh/SA-Enviro.png","width":512},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_3/v1650560936/stisdnet/ofebcmrfs2wzog4ttdrh/SA-Enviro.png","width":800},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1650560936/stisdnet/ofebcmrfs2wzog4ttdrh/SA-Enviro.png","width":1080}])
Story from the Texas Envirothon --- A five-member team of high school students from Mercedes, Texas, is the winner of the 2022 Texas Envirothon championship. Richardson High School earned second place, and third place went to the Academy of Science and Technology. The hybrid event took place April 8 through 12 in Houston and via Zoom.
“Envirothon is a way for students to get hands-on experience in environmental science,” said Wendy Reistle, program coordinator of the Texas Envirothon. “Preparation for the competition, as well as the competition itself, brings together natural resource professionals and students who may be interested in those careers.”
Students on the winning team are Linus Flores-Araujo, Sophia Cano, Alexander Vincent, Daniel Chen and Patrick Moss. The team will travel to Oxford, Ohio, to compete against teams from the states and Canadian provinces for scholarships at the NCF-Envirothon. Andrew Cortez and Esthela Pacheco served as the team’s advisers.
Top scoring teams on the field exam by topic and in the oral presentation were as follows: South Texas Academy Team Black Dragons and Academy of Science Alligator Gars tied for the top spot in Soils. South Texas Academy Team Grey Dragons and Richardson High School team Giant Spiderwort tied for first place in Aquatics. Forestry was won by the Giant Spiderwort team from Richardson High School. The Dragonflies team from Carroll Senior High School won Wildlife. There was a four-way tie for Current Issue by South Texas Academy Gray Dragons team, Richards High School’s Giant Spiderwort team, The Academy of Science Alligator Gar team and The Academy of Science Marsh Rice Rat team. South Texas Academy Gray Dragons won the Oral Presentation.
Eight teams representing 4 Texas high schools participated in Hybrid Envirothon competition. Participating schools were Academy of Science and Technology, The Woodlands; Richardson High School, Richardson; Science Academy of South Texas, Mercedes; Carroll Senior High School, Southlake, Texas.
Financial support for the event was provided our Gold sponsor, Eastman Chemical Company. The University of Houston-Clear Lake hosted the event. We would like to thank all of our wonderful volunteers (team leaders, station managers, photographers, runners, and judges) for making this event possible. Special thanks to the test writers and graders: Cole Patton, Dennis Brezina, Mickey Merritt, Andrew Sipocz, Dr. Kathleen Garland, Dr. Megan Topham, Shannon Miftari, Dr. Sachiyo Mukherji, Brittney Barnett, Derek Sanford and the staff at Armand Bayou Nature Center.
ABOUT ENVIROTHON
Envirothon is an academic, extra-curricular environmental and natural resource education program and competition designed for high school students. Teams composed of five students answer questions focusing on five areas of study: aquatics, forestry, soils, wildlife, and the current environmental issue. In addition to the field experience, students also participate in an oral component focusing on a real-world environmental problem.