Congratulations to two of our Orleans/Niagara BOCES Envirothon teams who took the top spots at the Niagara-Orleans Envirothon held at Bond Lake in Lewiston. There were 18 teams total of high school students from Orleans and Niagara Counties. Each team consisted of four to six students who underwent rigorous testing in the fields of wildlife, aquatics, forestry, soils/land and use and give a presentation on the environmental issue of “Non-Point Source Pollution: It Begins at Home!”
This yearly event is hosted by the Niagara County Soil and Water Conservation District and the Orleans County Soil and Water Conservation District. It is a great event for students to show off their knowledge of the environment and brainstorm on ways to protect and manage their local natural resources.
The overall Envirothon winner and the number one team in Niagara County was the Niagara Career and Technical Education Center’s (NCTEC) Conservation team taught by Jay Kaplewicz. Congratulations go to Nathan Couturier (Lockport), David Gurski (Wilson), Jordyn Kinne (Barker), Andrew Williams (Niagara Academy) and Adam Yanicki (Royalton-Hartland). They also received the highest score on the Forestry, Soils and Current Issue exams.
The top team in Orleans County are students from the Orleans Career and Technical Education Center’s (OCTEC) Animal Science program taught by Paige Hungerford. The team is coached by teacher aide Brooke Kiefer and consists of Kennedy Clapp (Newfane), Mackenzie Diamond (Royalton-Hartland), Fawn Elko (Royalton-Hartland), Autumn McIntyre (Albion), Lauren Nagel (Lockport) and Jill Utley (Royalton-Hartland).
A team of juniors, in the Conservation program from the NCTEC, consisting of Alexandria Ledger (Niagara Academy), Carter Kennedy (Starpoint), Bella Muck (Wilson), Trent Pope (Lewiston-Porter) and Kayla Terry (Starpoint) took the top score in the oral presentation portion on the current issue. Another team of Conservation juniors won the Wildlife portion of the competition. They are: Sophia Brice (Niagara Falls), Conner Lalewicz (Starpoint), Rowen Patterson (Lockport), Aaron Willis (Niagara Academy) and Lucas Wiseman (Starpoint).
Both top teams move on the New York State Envirothon in SUNY Cortland at the end of the month and we know that they will make us all proud!
