Cook County students advance to state competition in Envirothon

The Cook County Middle School took part in the Northeast Envirothon competition at the Cloquet Forest Center on May 7. The Cook County Envirothon team placed 2nd out of 45 teams and advancing to State on May 21. Team members are (L-R) Sarah Larsen, Audrey Summers, Mara MacDonell, Alex Ditmanson and Joey Chmelik.

Since February, an enthusiastic group of students has been meeting after school on Fridays to study the topics in a statewide competition—Envirothon.

Coached by April Wahlstrom, the team has had mini-classes in a variety of areas— soils, forestry, current events, wildlife, and water. A number of community volunteers spent time with the students, such as Phil Larson who spoke about soil and Kerrie Fabius and Ilena Berg who shared information about their work with water.

Wahlstrom said, “Besides mini classes, we also spent time on solving the problem.”

What problem? Wahlstrom explained that when they agreed to take part in the Envirothon competition, students were given a problem to solve. This year the assignment was to create a plan to build an eco-friendly stadium while addressing environmental concerns in the area of the development.

At the competition at the Cloquet Forestry Center on May 7, students visited five different stations and were tested on the different topics and then gave a 10-minute oral presentation on their solution.

Wahlstrom said, “Our expectations for the day were to go, to do the best we could and to have fun while learning what Envirothon was about.

“At each station, our students felt very confident and they enjoyed the day. The team finished successfully in 2nd place out of 45 teams.”

The Cook County team finished just behind the Cromwell team, which they faced again at the State Envirothon competition in Savage, MN on Monday, May 21. Out of 30 teams, the Cook County team claimed 12th place.

Best of all, said Wahlstrom, they beat the Cromwell team that had edged them out of first place at regionals! Wahlstrom said, “We are very proud of team members Audrey Summers, Joey Chmelik, Mara MacDonell, Sarah Larsen and Alex Ditmanson.”