The Manhattan High Envirothon team competed at their State tournament on April 23. The team placed second overall, narrowly losing out to St. John’s Catholic School from Beloit.
“Overall, it went really well. I mean, we got second in the State,” senior Lynden Auckey said. “The way Envirothon is scored is that there are several sub-categories each worth a hundred points, and then you add them up and whichever team has the most points gets to go on. We were very close.”
While the team had impressive finishes in the individual events, they struggled in the team-based “Rangeland” event, which ultimately caused them to fall to second place and miss out on a spot at Nationals in Calgary, Canada.
“We were ahead before they put in the Rangeland scores,” Auckley said. “We kind of neglected it a little bit, but next year they’re going to focus on it and I’m confident they can do really well.”
A lot goes into the preparation for Envirothon competitions, especially the State competition.
“Part of the State competition is an oral presentation, and so we had to write a script and create a presentation and we spent a lot of the time right before State preparing for that and working together and getting the transitions between who is talking really smooth,” Auckley said. “Because there are only two weeks between Regionals and State, if you’re not prepared for Regionals, you’re not going to be prepared for State. You kind of have to prepare for State throughout the season.”
The Envirothon team is a very close knit group, as all five competitors are very passionate about what they’re studying and work hard together to ensure their success at tournaments. However, the group is losing two senior members this year, as they graduate
“Honestly, just being able to have that community [is my favorite thing],” senior Soleil Disney said. “When you go to Envirothon, it’s not just you and your team, but it’s you and the people who all worked really hard to be there. It’s wonderful because you each have a unique subject to bring to the table, but together we’re able to complete tests that we wouldn’t be able to complete alone. We all work really hard.”
And no one works as hard as Disney. Disney has always had a passion for the environment, maybe due to being born on Earth Day. Being a member of Envirothon has only strengthened her love for the environment, especially as the representative for the Forestry subject.
“Going into Envirothon, I did not want to do forestry at all, but as I started to learn more, I just grew to love it because once you begin to understand something, I think you grow an appreciation for it, and it’s led me to my career path that I’m going into for environmental engineering,” Disney said. “It’s just been very eye-opening to see how intricate the system of our environment is and how we really need to start advocating for it.”
Disney, who has placed first in the Forestry sub-category three years in a row, is an encyclopedia of tree knowledge, and is very eager to share her coolest tree facts.
“Aspens are one organism. It’s not like one individual tree versus another individual tree, but their roots are literally connected,” Disney said. “If you see an aspen forest, that’s one organism.”
As the seniors leave a team that means a lot to them, they relish in the skills it has taught them.
“The international competitions are a joy and a really cool experience, but I personally think the experience of studying is the coolest,” Auckley said. “I have learned so much. I’ve put so much time into studying for my category, and I have a really strong foundation now in ecological sciences, biology, and marine sciences.”
