Stay tuned for exact dates and more information! Registration will be available in February.
The Envirothon program is an environmental and natural resource conservation problem-solving, teambuilding, and leadership experience and academic competition for high school students (grades 9-12 or ages 14-19), it combines classroom learning with hands-on field experiences focused around five major topics – Aquatics, Forestry, Soils, Wildlife and a Current Environmental Issue. Your five member teams rotate through five outdoor testing stations where they will get presentations from professionals in each topic, and their knowledge is evaluated and scored through written examination. We will be including the 5th category for 2024 which is “Renewable Energy for a Sustainable Future”.
Awards will be presented to the top two teams overall. The winning team, representing Dewitt, Ford, Logan, Macon, McLean, Moultrie, and Piatt Counties (Land Use Council #6), will be one of sixteen teams participating at the State of Illinois Competition. The State competition will be held on Wednesday, May 8th and Thursday, May 9th Monticello, Illinois at the 4H Camp and is a two day overnight competition students will again receive presentations, be tested on their knowledge and add a next level of building a presentation based on the 5th category topic to present before judges. The state winning team will represent Illinois at the National Envirothon in Hobart and William Smith Colleges Geneva, New York Dates: July 28 – August 3, 2024 which is North America’s largest high school environmental education competition featuring teams from across the United States, Canada, China, and Singapore competing for prizes and college scholarships. If you participate at your local level you should be prepared to move on and compete at the next level, your registration, housing and food is paid for at the State Leve. At the National Level should you get the opportunity to compete at that level, there is a stipend for travel as well as your registration, food and housing is paid for.
As an added bonus FFA teams also hold their State Environmental Competition along side the Illinois Envirothon. If your team is not the winning LUC team but is the top scoring FFA team you would be eligible to compete for one day at the State Competition to have your score included in the FFA scores sent to the Illinois FFA State Office to determine the Illinois FFA State Environmental winner.
More information about Envirothon and reference materials for the students to study can be accessed on the Illinois Envirothon web page listed here: www.illinoisenvirothon.org You can also visit the National Envirothon website to gain a bigger picture of this phenomenal event at https://envirothon.org/
If you have questions please feel free to email Sondra Baker (LUC 6 Envirothon Coordinator) at 217-935-2181 ext. 3 or your local Soil & Water Conservation District. We hope to see you in 2024!
