MHS Envirothon Team (L to R): Sean Finn, Wynn Tann, Joe Metzger, Adam Willman and Abby Snyder.
Marshalltown High School placed 11th out of 57 teams at the North American Envirothon held Aug. 4-9, 2013, at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana.
The team, comprised of MHS students Abby Snyder, Sean Finn, Wynn Tan, Joe Metzger and Adam Willman, tied for first place with five other teams on the Current Issue test, placed fourth in Forestry and fifth and Orals.
The current issue for the 2013 Envirothon was “Sustainable Rangeland Management: Achieving a balance between Traditional Agricultural Uses with Non-Agricultural uses on Montana Rangelands”.
“They have worked really hard, but also [were] very social and made some great friends,” said Susan Fritzell, MHS Extended Learning Program teacher.
The MHS Envirothon Team near the Yellowstone Falls (L to R): Susan Fritzell (ELP teacher), Joe Metzger, Abby Snyder, Wynn Tan, Adam Willman, Sean Finn.
While at the Envirothon the group visited Yellowstone Park, took short hikes in the Badlands, went trail riding on a ranch and rated the Yellowstone River. They also met with two experts on grasses and noxious weeds as a very passionate wildlife biologist who explained the complexity of managing elk and wolf populations while dealing with all different sorts of people.
Each team member won a new Canon Powershot camera. The competition was tight and the MHS team was just four points away from an 8th place finish.
Envirothon is a team competition testing high school students on critical thinking skills and knowledge about environmental topics. The MHS team earned their way to the North American competition by winning the state championship April 15, 2013, at Springbrook State Park in Guthrie Center, Iowa.
