For the Envirothon students, Earth Day isn’t the only day in which they think about our planet and what can be done to help it. 

Norwin’s Envirothon team, the ecology club at the high school, competed in the Westmoreland County Envirothon on April 28, winning first place. 

The Envirothon, one of the many academic competitions that Norwin students compete in annually, is a competition focusing on different environmental issues. Teams compete with other local schools in a series of 5 tests. Each is based on a major part of our environment: aquatics, wildlife, forestry, soils, and a current issue. This year the current issue was waste management. 

Each test contained questions about identification, prevention, solutions, and issues around the topic. 

Over the course of the day both Norwin Envirothon teams, Norwin 1 and Norwin 2, went around the different stations and took tests at each one. 

With the help of Envirothon advisor Mrs. Joyce Muchoney, Norwin 1 excelled and took first place finishes in both the aquatics and waste management categories. 

This success, along with good performances in the other categories, secured Norwin’s first place finish overall. 

The team qualified to attend the Pennsylvania State Envirothon Competition on May 25 at Camp Mt. Luther, Mifflinburg. Prior to the competition they will make an oral presentation in which their performance, combined with their test scores from the day-of, will determine their success at states. 

“The Envirothon competitors have worked hard all year, so I knew that we would have a solid chance at winning the Westmoreland County Envirothon,” Mrs. Muchoney said. “I am excited for the students that have the opportunity to complete at the Pennsylvania Envirothon.  I am hoping that we can place in the top 10 teams at the State competition.  In past years, there have been prizes, and scholarship money for teams placing in the top ten.  I would love to see Norwin earn that honor.  The Pennsylvania Envirothon is very competitive with typically over sixty teams representing the counties form all over Pennsylvania.

The students had a lot of fun competing together and regionals and hope to apply the things that they learned. 

“I thought the competition itself was fun,” Amanda Anticole (11) said. “We got to work together to get the questions done. It was such a good feeling to see a question that I could actually understand.”

The team views the Envirothon as a great opportunity to learn about the Earth and all that it has to offer. 

“I think it is very important for our generation to be aware of current environmental issues because in the future we are the ones who are going to be regulating everything and making environmental laws,” Jenna McGuinness (12) said. “We need to stay involved.”