BETHLEHEM, Pa. — A team of students from the Lehigh Valley placed sixth in this year’s statewide Envirothon competition.
Saucon Valley High School’s team scored 444.3 points, according to the tally sheet provided by Kimberly Tassinaro Mertz, a Saucon Valley biology teacher and Envirothon advisor.
The team — made up of Stepan Goudsouzian, Navair Goudsouzian, Jacob Norwood, Kyle Chi and Ryan Pakzad — was the winner of the Northampton County competition in mid-April at Louise Moore County Park in Lower Nazareth Township.
First place, with a score of 551.3, went to a team from Penncrest High School, Delaware County. Second through fifth places went to Carmichaels Area High School, Greene County; York County Homeschool Association; Lakeview High School, Mercer County; and Homeschoolers for Christ, Indiana County, respectively.
The other team from the Lehigh Valley to compete, Emmaus High School’s Team Birch, placed 49th.
That team included Rio Johnson, Elizabeth Patterson, Mathilde Guillon and Cecilia Ruyak. They won first place in Lehigh County’s competition in late April at Covered Bridge Park in South Whitehall Township.
What is the Envirothon?
Essentially a scholastic scrimmage for environmental science, the annual Envirothon combines classroom learning and outdoor activities to engage students in environmental education.
Each team, made up of five students and an adviser, is tested in a handful of topics, including wildlife, forestry, soils and land use, aquatic ecology and a current environmental issue.
This year’s theme was “Roots and Resiliency: Fostering Forest Stewardship in a Canopy of Change.”Pa. Envirothon
This year’s theme was “Roots and Resiliency: Fostering Forest Stewardship in a Canopy of Change.”
The statewide competition was broken into two parts. Students presented a 12-minute video and completed a question-and-answer session in mid-May, followed by in-person testing May 21 at Windber Recreation Park, Windber, Somerset County.
Teams from 64 of the commonwealth’s 67 counties participated.
Last year, teams from Saucon Valley and Emmaus also advanced to the state competition. Saucon Valley ended up with 13th place, while Emmaus placed 44th.
