Massachusetts State Grange will again sponsor the 2025 EnviroTrek Lunch at the Massachusetts Envirothon Competition on May 22nd, 2025 at Borderland State Park in Easton. Massachusetts Envirothon is extremely grateful for their continued support!
Additionally, $1500 in scholarships will be made available to teams for the 2024-2025 program year..
Teams are be invited to propose how they would spend this scholarship money – e.g. Envirothon related equipment, field trips, transportation, or registration. Priority will be given to new teams, teams that have not been awarded grants previously, and teams with financial need.
To apply, fill out the form below! Applications are due by Feb 12 @ 5pm. MESC will review applications and teams will be notified soon after.
Update: All funds have been distributed for 24-25.
It started off as a beautiful day! The 2024 MA Envirothon competition had to end early due to severe weather. After careful analysis of the scores received in the four full sessions completed, we were able to clearly determine an overall 1st place winner:
Lexington High School (Blue)
Congrats Eileen, Caroline, Jocelyn, Tomer and Erin! Good luck at NCF Envirothon in July!
Because not every team was able to complete every station, we have opted to report out Honorable Mentions for high scores on the stations instead of a ranking, in alphabetical order.
Honorable Mentions
Forest Acton Boxborough Regional High School (Blue) Fitchburg High School Lexington High School (Green) Reading Memorial High School (Blue) Shepherd Hill Regional High School (Maroon)
Soil Fitchburg High School Lexington High School (Blue) & (Green) Minuteman High School Environmental Tech (Blue) Reading Memorial High School (Blue) Shepherd Hill Regional High School (Gold)
Water Lexington High School (Blue) & (Green) Minuteman High School Environmental Tech (Blue) & (Green) Norfolk County Agricultural High School Reading Memorial High School (Blue) Shepherd Hill Regional High School (Maroon)
Wildlife Boston Latin Academy (Green) Brockton High School/Wildlands Trust/Manomet (Green) Fitchburg High School Lexington High School (Blue) & (Green) Minuteman High School Environmental Tech (Blue) & (Green)
Current Issue Acton Boxborough Regional High School (Blue) Brockton High School/Wildlands Trust/Manomet (Green) Lexington High School (Blue) Millbury Jr./Sr. High School O’Bryant School for Math and Science (Green)
Congratulations to all our teams for their hard work throughout the 23-24 program year!
Have you been thinking about forming an Envirothon team but want to learn more about the program first? Come join us at the May 2024 competition for a special tour and sessions for potential coaches!
You’ll get to tour the competition, talk with current coaches about logistics and funding, see student presentations and get excited about forming a team! Come learn how our free resources can support your Environmental Science, Biology, or Civics/local Government classes and inspire your students to take action!
Breakfast and lunch provided! Free PDP’s available with a follow-up assignment.
Thursday May 23rd, 2024 Clinton MA. Directions and full agenda provided upon registration. Register here by May 16. Questions? contact massenvirothon@gmail.com
The Licensed Site Professional Association‘s 30 for 30 grant program has awarded $6500 to MA Envirothon to distribute to teams to cover transportation and registration fees.
Thanks to the generosity of the Licensed Site Professional Association (LSPA) 30for30 Grant program, Envirothon teams that serve students from environmental justice designated areas may apply for funds to cover registration and transportation to events in spring and fall of 2024.
To see if your community qualifies, please refer to this map.
To apply for funding, please complete the this short form, including how much you are asking for and how the funds will be spent.
Priority will be given to:
Teams who are new to the program or
Teams who are willing and able to “bus-pool” with other teams (in district or nearby) or
Teams who are able to get their sending district to cover a portion of the total cost
If you have any questions, contact massenvirothon@gmail.com! We are excited for this opportunity to provide support for our Envirothon teams and happy to work with you to get permission from your administration/district to participate.
Huge thanks to the LSPA for recognizing the importance of work Envirothon teams are doing in their communities and helping amplify their voices! We look forward to working with Association members to mentor teams in the future!
Massachusetts State Grange will again sponsor the 2024 EnviroTrek Lunch at the Massachusetts Envirothon Competition on May 23th, 2024 at Wachusett Reservoir in Clinton. Massachusetts Envirothon is extremely grateful for their continued support!
Additionally, $1500 in scholarships will be made available to teams for the 2023-2024 program year..
Teams are be invited to propose how they would spend this scholarship money – e.g. Envirothon related equipment, field trips, transportation, or registration. Priority will be given to new teams, teams that have not been awarded grants previously, and teams with financial need.
To apply, fill out the form below! Applications are due by March 1, 2024 @ 5pm. MESC will vote in early March and teams will be notified soon after.
Congratulations to Jamie Yu, Caroline Ehmann, Jocelyn Chen, Eileen Ho, Christopher Yoo and coach Steve Wilkins from Lexington High School on their incredible performance at the 2023 NCF Envirothon in New Brunswick!
As one of the top three teams, they presented in front of a special panel of judges- you can watch them here starting at 2:36:00. These amazing youths also won all of the station tests (scoresheet!) – and had fun!!
And here is a google album of photos of the team in New Brunswick (thanks for the pictures NCF Envirothon!) and training beforehand in MA.
The team was honored by Governor Healy at the State House in late August.
Governor Healey presented the team with a proclamation honoring their historic triumph at the State House in late August. She wanted details on the legislation the team prepared for their town selectmen around improving energy efficiency in homes in Lexington as part of their MA Current Issue and Community Engagement award.
We are so proud of the team and grateful to their families and the greater Envirothon community for their support of the program.
Massachusetts State Grange will again sponsor the 2023 EnviroTrek Lunch at the Massachusetts Envirothon Competition on May 25th, 2023 at Blackstone River and Canal Heritage State Park in Uxbridge. Massachusetts Envirothon is extremely grateful for their continued support!
Additionally, $1500 in scholarships will be made available to teams for the 2022-2023 program year..
Teams are be invited to propose how they would spend this scholarship money – e.g. Envirothon related equipment, field trips, transportation, or registration. Priority will be given to new teams, teams that have not been awarded grants previously, and teams with financial need.
To apply, fill out the form below! Applications are due by Feb 17, 2023 @ 5pm. MESC will vote in early March and teams will be notified soon after.
“Achieving a Zero Waste Future for Massachusetts” was the Current Issue
Lexington High School – The overall top scoring team
BELCHERTOWN, Mass., May 12, 2022 – For the past school year, 100 high school students from 14 Massachusetts communities across the commonwealth have been studying the possibility of achieving a zero-waste future for Massachusetts, as well as increasing their knowledge of soils, water, forests and wildlife. They tested their knowledge and presented their findings at the 35th annual Massachusetts Envirothon competition on Thursday, May 12th at the Quabbin Reservoir in Belchertown, Mass.
At this outdoor field event, teams rotated through four “ecostations” where they answered written questions and engaged in hands-on activities such as soil analysis, wildlife habitat assessment, tree identification, and water quality testing. Each team had up to 10 participants.
At the fifth station, the Current Issue, each team gave a 15-minute presentation on “Achieving a Zero Waste Future for Massachusetts” to a panel of judges. Teams had been researching the Current Issue in their own community in preparation for their presentation. Each panel of judges included concerned citizens and environmental professionals from government agencies, non-profit organizations, academia and private industry. Teams were asked to envision a zero-waste future and what changes would be required in how we produce, distribute, sell, and use products and services as a society to achieve it.
This year’s top scoring teams are:
Overall:
1.
Lexington High School
2.
The Groton School
3.
Shepherd Hill Regional High School
4.
Doherty Memorial High School
5.
Acton-Boxborough Regional High School
Current Issue presentation:
1.
Lexington High School, Blue team
2.
The Groton School, Blue team
3.
Doherty Memorial High School, Gold team
Forests ecostation:
1.
Lexington High School, Blue team
2.
Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School
3.
Lexington High School, Green team
Soils ecostation:
1.
Lexington High School, Blue team
2.
The Groton School, Green team
3
The Groton School, Blue team
Water ecostation:
1.
Lexington High School, Blue team
2.
Lexington High School, Green team
3.
The Groton School, Blue team
Wildlife ecostation:
1.
Lexington High School, Blue team
2.
Lexington High School, Green team
3.
The Groton School, Blue team
“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 24-30, 2022 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
The 2022 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, Smithfield Foods, the Society of Soil Scientists of Southern New England, 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 were also on hand for the competition to handle all the event logistics from setting up tents, tables and chairs, checking-in teams, serving food, scoring tests and cleaning up.
For this year’s event, compostable products were sourced for the food tent and City Compost and the Millbury Environmental Council assisted in sorting waste, resulting in less than a grocery bag of waste for the landfill. For more information on the Massachusetts Envirothon visit www.massenvirothon.org.
Congratulations to Groton School’s Envirothon team their 4th place finish at the 2021 Virtual NCF Envirothon!
Led by captain Amy Ma, Groton School students Amelia Lee, Alice Liu, Aisling O’Connell, and Aidan O’Connell worked hard in June and July to prepare for the Virtual NCF (National Conservation Foundation) competition hosted by the Nebraska Association of Resources Districts.
The team took 5 one hour tests on Monday with a proctor and used resources sent from Nebraska to complete the station tests in Aquatics, Wildlife, Soils, Forestry and the Current Environmental Issue: Water Resources Management: Local Control and Local Solutions. Their oral presentation was conducted over Zoom on Tuesday.
Big thanks to coach Dr. David Black Jr for his support, and Groton School staff for accommodating the team at the last minute as well as to the O’Connell family for hosting the far-flung students during the competition days. Preparing for the event this year took at lot of flexibility and creativity on top of mastering a mountain of virtual information! The MA Envirothon Steering Committee is very proud of this novice team and looks forward to their continued participation.
2021 Virtual Massachusetts Envirothon winners announced
WESTFORD, Mass., May 25, 2021 – The results are in from the 2020-2021 Massachusetts Envirothon education program and competition for high school students, which was held remotely due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. The Groton School was the top overall scoring team and will represent Massachusetts at the 2021 National Envirothon Competition being held virtually in July 2021.
The competition included two components, for which teams prepared for and presented remotely: the Natural Resource Challenge and the Current Issue. This year’s Current Issue topic was “Water Resource Management and Climate Change.” Winners were determined based on overall combined scores for both components.
Lexington High School placed second and Newton South High School placed third overall in the competition.
Eight teams, with three to 10 members each, participated: Acton Boxborough Regional High School, Brockton High School / Wildlands Trust, The Groton School, Lexington High School, Millbury Jr. Sr. High School, Newton South High School, Quabbin Regional High School and Shepherd Hill Regional High School (Dudley/Charlton).
The Natural Resource Challenge allowed teams to apply their knowledge of the four natural resource topic areas – soil, wildlife, water, and forest – by taking on the role of an environmental consultant. Each team submitted a 30-minute or less video presentation on their review of a fictional school building proposal. The school was to be built on a currently forested woodlands and wetlands parcel owned by a town. In their video presentations, teams identified environmental or human health issues and determined if this was the best placement for the proposed school and supporting services. They also used GIS mapping and answered questions about site soils, the Mass Wetlands Protection Act, carbon sequestration, drinking water regulations and wildlife. The Groton School (first place), Lexington (second place) and Newton South (third place) scored the highest for this challenge.
For the Current Issue portion of the Envirothon program, each team explored a significant environmental issue as it occurs in their own community and produced a 10-minute video on their research. Panels of five judges reviewed these videos and then engaged in twenty minutes of questions and discussion with each team in a live on-line meeting. To make the competition as fair as possible in this new format, a second round of judging was added, with a single panel of judges reviewing and ranking the three top scoring presentations: The Groton School (first), Lexington High School (second) and Acton-Boxboro Regional High School (third).
The Massachusetts Envirothon challenges young people to get outdoors and explore, gaining hands-on knowledge and experience of Massachusetts ecosystems. They engage with their communities and develop skills for investigating local environmental issues, and learn how to actively participate in community decisions.
The competition provides a challenge that allows participants to test their environmental knowledge and skills.
“We hope that Envirothon participants will grow in their commitment to stewardship of the environment and natural resources, and cultivate their curiosity and love of learning,” said Mass. Envirothon Steering Committee Chair Kelley Freda of the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation- Division of Water Supply Protection. “The Envirothon also increases students’ awareness of career opportunities in the environmental field.”
The 2020-2021 Massachusetts Envirothon was 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, individual contributions and local conservation districts.
Multiple federal and state environmental agencies, conservation districts, non-profit organizations, higher educational institutions, and businesses are involved in planning and delivering the Massachusetts Envirothon program each year. For more information on the Massachusetts Envirothon visit www.massenvirothon.org.
Massachusetts Envirothon 