Competition will be held at Sholan Farms, Leominster

Abundant, Affordable Healthy Food is 2019 current issue

LEOMINSTER, Mass., May 2, 2019 – For the past school year, high school students across the commonwealth have been studying current and future prospects for growing, harvesting, and distributing food in their own home communities and across the Commonwealth. They’ll present their findings at the 32^nd annual Massachusetts Envirothon competition on Friday, May 17^th at Sholan Farms in Leominster, Mass.

The approximately 200 students from 29 Massachusetts communities will also test their knowledge of the area’s soils, forests, water, and wildlife as part of the competition.

At this outdoor field event, teams will rotate through four “ecostations” where they will answer written questions and engage in hands-on activities such as soil analysis, wildlife habitat assessment, tree identification, and water quality testing. Each team will have up to 10 participants and will split into specialized sub-teams during the competition, each focusing their efforts at different ecostations.

At the fifth station, the Current Issue, each team will give a 15-minute presentation on “Abundant, Affordable Healthy Food” to a panel of judges. Teams have been researching the Current Issue in their own community in preparation for their presentation. Each panel of judges includes concerned citizens and environmental professionals from government agencies, non-profit organizations, academia and private industry. Teams were asked to explore current and future prospects for growing, harvesting, and distributing food in their own home communities and across the Commonwealth.

“These teams work hard getting to know their local ecosystems and how their communities depend on them. We test their scientific knowledge, but we also like to hear their stories about how they have gotten muddy, cold, and tired, and otherwise had fun and fallen in love with nature in their neighborhood. The best hope for the future comes from engaged, scientifically literate citizens who care about their communities and the environment,” said Kelley Freda of the Mass. Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Division of Water Supply Protection and Chair of the Massachusetts Envirothon Steering Committee.

“The Envirothon is more than just a competition about environmental knowledge.  Many teams have taken what they’ve learned and put it to work in an action/service project in their community.  The program aims to prepare the next generation for the stewardship work that needs to be done,” said Freda. “And this annual competition actually becomes a festive gathering of the environmental community of Massachusetts where students learn from the environmental professionals and the environmental professionals learn from the students, .”

The overall winning team will have the opportunity to represent Massachusetts in the North American Envirothon, which will be held July 28^th to August 2^nd in Raleigh, North Carolina.

The 2019 Massachusetts Envirothon is made possible through the contributions of partnering agencies and organizations, including financial support from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy & Environmental Affairs, the U.S. Forest Service, the Massachusetts Grange, Environmental Business Council of New England, Wegman’s supermarkets and local conservation districts.

Fifteen federal and state environmental agencies, conservation districts, non-profit organizations, higher educational institutions, and businesses provide expertise and help organize the event. Dozens of volunteers will also be on hand on May 17^th to handle all the event logistics from setting up tents, tables and chairs, checking-in teams, serving food, scoring tests and cleaning up.

For more information on the Massachusetts Envirothon visit www.massenvirothon.org.

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2019 PARTICIPATING TEAMS (as of May 2, 2019)

• 4 H Cows and Clover Club, Berkley
• Acton Boxborough Regional High School, Acton
• Bridgewater-Raynham Regional High School, Bridgewater
• Bristol County Agricultural High School, Dighton
• Brockton High School/Wildlands Trust, Brockton
• David Prouty High School, Spencer
• Deerfield Academy, Deerfield
• Doherty High School, Worcester
• Fitchburg High School, Fitchburg
• Greater New Bedford Voc-Tech High School, New Bedford
• Innovation Academy Charter School, Tyngsboro
• Leicester High School, Leicester
• Lexington High School, Lexington
• Malden High School, Malden
• Millbury Jr./Sr. High School, Millbury
• Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School, Fitchburg
• Newton North High School, Newton
• Newton South High School, Newton
• Norfolk County Agricultural High School, Walpole
• Oliver Ames High School, North Easton
• Pioneer Valley Regional School, Northfield
• Plymouth South High School, Plymouth
• Quabbin Regional High School, Barre
• Reading Memorial High School, Reading
• Rockland High School, Rockland
• Shepherd Hill Regional High School, Dudley
• Somerset Berkley Regional High School, Somerset
• Southeastern Regional Voc Tech, South Easton
• Springfield Central High School, Springfield