15 April 2010

Palm Beach County Envirothon



Last week I helped out with the County Envirothon competition. This year it was hosted at the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. This is a great park and they just opened their brand new exhibit hall which is very nice. The competition this year was very competitive with some of the best high schools in the County going for the grand prize. Last year's winning team went on to win frist in the state of Florida and placed 6th in the Nationals. So it's really amazing to get to work with some of the brightest kids in the County for a day.

My job every year is to be a Team Escort. Basically I lead my group, which consists of 4 or 5 teams, around to each station. This year we had The Scots, Eco-Team-Go!, Alternates II, and our favorite team, Elementz aka Shrub Patrol. Elementz was one of our teams from last year so it was fun to get to work with a group of kids we already were famailiar with from a year ago.


At the Forestry station my team leader and I discussed carrying this axe around in case we needed to do any reprimanding. Luckily, our kids are not only bright but very well behaved.

Once we delivered the teams to the next station Danica, pictured above, and I would sit and chat. We racked up quite the bird list including: Swallow-tailed Kite, Gray Catbird, Great-crested Flycatcher, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker, Roseate Spoonbill and of course the usual wetland waders.


Our teams pictured above were very serious about the competition and with good reason, this is year long effort that accumulates in this one competition. At the Action Team station we had a chance to browse the environmental projects. Our team Eco-Team-Go! won the Action Team award and came in 4th overall.


Our favorite Elementz won second in the Action Team category but they took the grand prize overall. They were also the winning team last year so we hope they can repeat at the state level and go for an even bigger national win.


Below is the Elementz team with County Commissioner Vana. She's a great supporter of education and nature centers in the County. She's a former teacher makes a point to come to the competition every year. It's really nice to see some of our political leaders out in the community and not just on trial for abuses of their power. In three years Palm Beach County has lost three commissioners. I really hope that the people like Shelley Vana kept promoting the County in a positive light.

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