Emmaus High Teams Place First and Second at Envirothon

Special to Emmaus Patch By Chrissy Cilento, Emmaus High School Junior

It was no surprise this year that the Emmaus High School Envirothon team snatched first place at the 24th annual Lehigh County Envirothon, this being the 15th consecutive year they did so!

On Tuesday, May 1st, two teams of five EHS students traveled to the in Emmaus to compete against 11 other schools and see whose knowledge of environmental issues was greatest. Emmaus ended up sweeping the playing field, with EHS teams coming in first and second place.

The winning team -- Brittney Jackson, Kaylee Kraft, Britt Gilbert, Emily Leayman and Connor Maake -- will be traveling to the University of Pittsburg on May 22 and 23 to prove its environmental prowess in the state-wide competition! 

Just like any other teams, the groups of students had to train for the Envirothon events. Way back in the fall, the members of the teams met weekly with Environmental Science teacher Steve Baier to learn about the different topics that the competition covers: aquatics, forestry, wildlife, soils and soil conservation. The students studied and discussed the various topics, making sure that they were completely prepared by the time the Envirothon rolled around. 

Luckily all the students’ hard work paid off, both in the fact that the two teams performed very well and they learned a ton in the process!

Baier hopes that “no matter what profession they end up in, they will take with them this knowledge and appreciation for the environment and issues related to it.” He is grateful for this opportunity to work with and be a part of the lives of some really great young men and women, and hopes to send them off with one of The Lorax’s “truffula seeds,” providing them with the knowledge necessary to keep our earth at its best.

Chrissy Cilento, a junior at , plans to study journalism in college. She is a periodic contributor to Patch.