A group of students at Central High School will be part of a competition in Canada this summer that will pit them against teams from across the U.S., Canada, China and Singapore.
The Central High School Envirothon team will represent Missouri at Envirothon in New Brunswick July 23-29.
Envirothon is a problem-solving, natural resource education program for high school students.
The Central team advanced from regionals in Springfield to the state competition in Jefferson City where they took first place.
"It's almost not real yet, said Paul Epps, the team member's science teacher and advisor. "I mean, I was just shaking when they said it, right? I didn't even know how to process it. And, now, it feels great. It is a little terrifying because I've never been to nationals, so we're all trying to figure out what to do and how to do it — how to prepare for it in a different ecosystem than what we live in, and everybody's crazy excited."
He said the competition focuses on certain components of the environment: Soils, forestry, wildlife, aquatics and current events.
"So, the kids go and they test in each of those areas," said Epps. "So, they take them out into like the forest or by a river, and they actually do tests related to that spot, so, they might ask them to identify a certain kind of tree or how many board feet are in the tree."
The team is busy preparing for the upcoming contest. Three members met recently at a local library. Kalea Aberle’s category is current events, which this year is climate change.
"A lot of the resources that they provided for us focus on climate change on a global scale — so learning how it affects each community individually and then together," she said.
Reporter: What do you think your chances are in this competition?
"Well, I think no matter how we do in the competition, we will all have an amazing time — a lot of fun with it — and I think that's the most important thing," she said.
Aberle’s teammate Megan Liermann is focusing on soil in this year’s Envirothon.
"I'm going to be looking at a lot of soil surveys for the area that we're going to be in in Canada because their soil's going to be a lot different than what we have here in Missouri," said Liermann, "so, I'm going to really be focusing on that because that's an area that I'm not strong with since it's different."
Another member of the team is Miles Montgomery.
"I'm reading up on the wildlife and the nature surrounding New Brunswick, Canada, and I'm reading up on mostly skull identification — that's probably my weakest part and the ecological relationships between the animals. That's also an area that I need work in," he said.
Montgomery is optimistic about their chances as they get closer to the first day of competition.
"I feel very excited," he said. "I feel that we can place within the top three for sure. I feel very confident."
The other team members from Central High School are Eli Kromrey and Quincy Alberhasky.
