John Jay High School of the Katonah-Lewisboro School District and Yorktown High School of the Yorktown Central School District placed second and third, respectively, among 33 high school teams in the 20th Annual Hudson Valley Regional Envirothon held April 15.
Because the John Jay High School team, coached by teacher and advisor Linda Burke, ranked first in the county, this team will represent Westchester at the New York State Envirothon on May 25 and 26 at Hobart & William Smith Colleges. The winner of that competition will represent the state at the Canon National Envirothon in New Brunswick, Canada in July.
The Hudson Valley regional environmental science competition was held at the Sharpe Reservation in Fishkill. The Fox Hill Academy team of Orange County placed first. The event was co-sponsored by the Westchester County Department of Planning and the county Soil and Water Conservation District.
"Events such as this encourage our students to expand their interest in science and our environment," said County Executive Robert P. Astorino. "I am pleased that the county government can be part of this, and we are proud of the John Jay and Yorktown High School teams, as well as all of our participants."
Twelve Westchester teams competed, with some schools sending more than one team. Westchester had more teams in the competition than any other county. The other Westchester teams were from Woodlands High School, Greenburgh, White Plains High School, Ossining High School, Walter Panas High School, Lakeland School District, Cortlandt and Putnam-Northern Westchester BOCES.
The Envirothon's primary goal is to encourage students to learn about becoming good stewards of the land. The teams, each made up of five to seven students, competed on five environmental topics: soils, aquatics, forestry, wildlife, and fresh and salt water estuaries. In preparation for the events, students develop research skills, practice team building, and gain an appreciation for consensus decision making.
John Jay team members (2nd place team)
Lauren Allen
Samantha Lish
Erik Perry
Lisa Weingarten
Christopher Brophy
Advisor: Linda Rachele Burke
Yorktown team members (3rd place team)
Dave Lu
Alex Liu
Miwa Wenzel
Ema Iaconetti
Michael Beechert
Alternate: Maya Rau-Murthy
Advisor: Eric Agosta/Michael Salmore