After a year of training, JC’s Envirothon team faced six other schools in the county-wide competition.

Nine students traveled to Eden Mill Nature Center on Friday, April 29 to compete. The students were split into two groups, with the A team being led by seniors Selona Baker, Holden Loder, and Sammi Ashton.
Other schools present included Aberdeen, Bel Air, Fallston, Harford Christian, Harford Tech, and North Harford.
The test consisted of five topics in Forestry, Soils, Wildlife, Aquatics, and Waste to Resources. Both teams’ best category was Wildlife, with the A team earning 89 of 100 points and the B team earning 88 of 100 points.
In the end, JC’s B team won third overall in their division and North Harford rose victorious in both divisions.
After the competition, Envirothon Moderator Dr. Julie Baker said that she is “proud of all the team members for working hard this year to learn all the different topics that Envirothon encompasses. It is a time commitment, a challenge, but is rewarding in that there is so much knowledge gained.”
Going into next year, the team plans to spend more time learning about soils and forestry as these were some low scoring areas. “I think it would be a good idea to invite some of the experts in these areas to come have a one-on-one session with our team next year,” said Dr. Baker.
Despite the scores, Dr. Baker said, “I was glad that everyone got to have the experience of a normal competition and to gain experience for next year.”
For senior Holden Loder, his favorite memory from this year “was on the training day when we were all in the stream with nets searching for macro-invertebrates. Training days are always my favorite because it allows us to get closer to our team.”
Making new friends was just one reason freshman Ellery Shertzer joined the team. She said, “I’ve always been passionate about the environment and thought that Envirothon would be an excellent opportunity to explore that with a group of like-minded people.”
“I also enjoyed that the club was multi-faceted; it allowed me to further my knowledge of the things I already knew and become exposed to topics I knew nothing about,” Ellery said.
Dr. Baker added that she enjoys moderating Envirothon due to its interesting subjects. “I think it’s fun to teach students some topics that they might not get to experience in just a regular environmental science class.”
With this year coming to an end, the team is looking forward to next year’s trainings and competitions.