A very good showing for a team of West Hill students at an environmental competition.
While the group did not win the entire competition, they did place first in two categories at the annual provincial Envirothon.
West Hill grade 11 student Paige Allerton says they won in the forestry and soil competitions.
Allerton explains the Envirothon has five categories – forestry, soil, wildlife, aquatics, and a current issue, which this year was the importance of biological diversity.
Allerton says the competition involves tests which are written together by the 5 members of the teams, with each member an ‘expert’ in one of the categories.
They also have to put together a 10 minute presentation, which focused this year on how to get other students interested and involved in biodiversity issues.
Allerton says while it’s a lot of work, it’s also a lot of fun.
She highly recommends other students get involved in their school’s Envirothon teams.
Allerton says her team was hopeful going into the competition because West Hill won the provincials last year and moved on to an international event.
But she adds the team was a young one this year – they were grade 11 and 10 students, while most of the other schools sent grade 12 students.
Allerton says she’s happy with their wins in two categories and is looking forward to competing again next year.
The 2009 provincial Envirothon was held at the Tim Horton’s camp near Cambridge last Wednesday to Saturday.