News & Notes June 2008

66 Counties Participate in State Envirothon
Delaware County Team Takes First Place

The 25th Pennsylvania State Envirothon was held at The Pennsylvania State University on May 19 and 20. High school students from sixty-six Pennsylvania counties participated in this year's event. The event is sponsored by Pennsylvania's sixty-six conservation districts, the State Conservation Commission, and PACD.

The Envirothon is designed to give students an opportunity to acquire and demonstrate their knowledge of environmental resources and their connection to each other and human activities. The students are challenged in the areas of aquatic ecology, forestry, soil/land use, wildlife, and a current environmental issue. The 2008 current environmental issue was recreational impacts on the natural environment.

2008 State Envirothon Results:
1st place: Penncrest High School (Delaware County)
2nd place: Northern York High School (York County)
3rd place: North East High School (Erie County)
4th place: Warren Area High School (Warren County)
5th place: Union County Homeschoolers (Union County)

The 2008 Pennsylvania Envirothon champions from Penncrest High School are (left to right): Elizabeth Freeburg, Katie Ferguson, Katie Davis, Jennifer Walker, and Alex Senko. The advisors (not pictured) are Mark Samilenko and Chrissa Kuntz.

The 2008 Pennsylvania Envirothon champions from Delaware County will represent the Commonwealth at the 21st Canon Envirothon North American competition planned for July 28 - August 3 at the Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona.

An oral component event was held on the day before the testing event. This year's scenario was based on recreational impacts on the natural environment. For the first time, the oral component score was included in the overall competition score.

Oral Component Results:
1st place: Westmoreland Enrichment Classes (Westmoreland County)
2nd place: Penncrest High School (Delaware County)
3rd place: North East High School (Erie County)
4th place: Lackawanna Trail High School (Wyoming County)
5th place: Union County Homeschoolers (Union County)
For more information on the Envirothon, visit the website at www.envirothonpa.org.

Silent Auction Donations Being Accepted

PACD is accepting donation pledges for the silent auction held each year during the PACD/SCC Joint Annual Conference in July. The funds raised at the auction will go directly towards the PACD Capital Fund.

Thank you to the following counties for their pledges:
Chester County - Two non-cancelled stamps, First of the Land Grant Colleges Michigan and Penn State 100 year anniversary
Indiana County - Wine and cheese
Jefferson County - Basket of candies

It's not too late to pledge an item to the silent auction. Please notify Shannon Wehinger at (717) 238-PACD (7223) or shannon-wehinger@pacd.org by July 18 if you plan to bring an item to the conference for the auction. A donation form is available at http://www.pacd.org/events/JAC08/auctionform.pdf.

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