Two five-member teams from Palisades Charter High School (PCHS) won first and third places in the outdoor natural resources and environmental issues education competition at the California Envirothon which took place April 20-22, 2011.
By placing first in total points, the winning team, PCHS “Bioswhales†[sic], earned the honor of representing the State of California in the North American competition to be held July 24-29, 2011 in Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada. Team Bioswhales also placed first in four of the six individual testing stations: Aquatics, Forestry, Wildlife and the Orals Presentation.
Some recent areas of study for the PCHS students include analyzing soil texture of the Ballona Wetlands, endangered species survey of the Tidewater goby in Topanga Creek, oak restoration work in Malibu Creek State Park, invasive exotic plant removal in upper Temescal Canyon, water quality monitoring within the Santa Monica Mountains and in Santa Monica Bay, and other field work.
Under PCHS teacher Steve Engelmann’s guidance for the past seven years, PCHS has won two California State Championships in 2007 and 2008, and has led teams to place 19th in 2007 and 9th in 2008 in the North American competition.
The Santa Monica Mountains Resource Conservation District provides technical and some financial support for the PCHS program.
The 2011 California State Champions PCHS Team “Bioswhales†members are: seniors Emily Clarke (Captain), Malina Loeher, and Sergio Martinez; junior Jesse Victoroff; and sophomore Casey Dye.
Third place medal winners PCHS Team “Galloping Narwhals†members are: seniors Larson Angelis (Captain) and Jonathan Fine; junior Zach Alcus; and sophomores Charles Kong and Josh Ravicz.
Mr. Engelmann and the Palisades Charter High School Envirothon students began immediately preparing for the next level of competition, both in studying more materials and in the fundraising needed for the much larger budget to travel to Atlantic Canada in a few months.
The Envirothon works in partnership with local conservation districts, forestry associations, educators, and cooperating natural resource agencies to organize and conduct competitions on the local, regional, state, and/or provincial level. Winning teams from each state and province advance to the Canon Envirothon for an opportunity to compete for recognition, scholarships, and prizes.
The Canon Envirothon is North America’s largest high school environmental education competition. Reaching more than
500,000 students across North America annually, the Envirothon succeeds in its mission to develop knowledgeable, skilled, and dedicated citizens who are willing and prepared to work towards achieving a balance between the quality of life and the quality of the environment.
For more information about Canon Envirothon: http://www.envirothon.org/ .
