A team from Ord High School finished as runners-up at the 2011 Nebraska Envirothon held May 7th at the Trails West YMCA Camp near Scottsbluff. The team of Kris Hornickel, Dusty Staab, Johnny Ference, Christie Schauer, and Taylor Hornickel, along with FFA Advisor Dave Ference, made up the only team from the Lower Loup Natural Resources District competing at the event.
A team from Superior High School repeated as the State Envirothon champions and will represent Nebraska at the Canon Envirothon. A team from West Holt High School in Atkinson finished in third place.
In the state contest, five-member teams compete in seven areas of environmental studies: soils, aquatics, forestry, wildlife, range, policy and a current environmental issue. This year's special topic pertaining to salt and fresh water estuaries. Many of the test questions require hands-on observations, measurements and calculations.
To advance to the state competition, the student teams first compete in regional contests held around the state. The winners of each region and seven wildcard teams then compete at the state competition.
This year there were 11 schools and 14 teams competing at in the state contest. Other schools participating were: Sidney, West Central, two teams from Superior, Norris, Bellevue East, West Holt, Ord, two teams from Concordia, Burke, Aurora and two teams from Bellevue West.
The Ord team finished with the highest score in the range category of the contest. Other station winners include: Aquatics - Superior Team 1, Superior Team 2, and Bellevue East (three-way tie); Wildlife and Soils - West Holt; Forestry, Policy and Special Topic Oral Presentation - Superior Team 1.
The Nebraska Association of Resources Districts is the annual sponsor of the Nebraska Envirothon. Other sponsors for this year’s Envirothon included: Nebraska Forest Service, Nebraska Natural Resources Conservation Service, Monsanto Water Utilization Learning Center, Nebraska Department of Natural Resources, Midwest Laboratories, HDR Engineering Inc., Canon Envirothon, and Trails West YMCA Camp. This year the Canon Envirothon will be held in Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada.
To advance to the state competition, the student teams first compete in regional contests held around the state. The winners of each region and seven wildcard teams then compete at the state competition.