Belgreen wins Envirothon title, first since 2002
By Staff
Melissa Cason
BELGREEN – For the first time in more than five years, Belgreen has earned first place in the Alabama Envirothon competition.
Envirothon Adviser Cindy Fleming said Belgreen won first place at the state competition in 2002, but has finished second place each year since.
"We are so excited," Fleming said. "This year we have done wonderful'
Belgreen was among 10 schools to compete in the state competition, after winning first place at the county competition last month.
The competition began last Thursday with training sessions and tests.
"The students were tested in five different areas: soils, wildlife, aquatics, forestry and current issues," Fleming said.
She added that the team scored the highest on the current issues and aquatics, and tied in wildlife and forestry. Solid is the only category where Belgreen did not win a medal.
After the tests, the students are given a complex problem and instructed to solve it without the help of the advisor.
"They had to give a 17 to 20 minute presentation in front of four judges," Fleming said.
"The top three schools from that competition had to give the presentation again in front of everyone and eight judges."
Once the presentations are scored, they are added to the test scores and a winner is selected.
Fleming said the team had little team preparation for the event, but were given the information to study before coming together as a team.
"As the advisor, I gave them the material to study," Fleming said. "We did have a few days where they talked and planned but nothing was really practiced ahead of time."
Fleming said that competition such as the Envirothon gives smaller schools, like Belgreen, the opportunity to compete with the larger schools.
"For the past few years, Belgreen has come in second place next to Oak Mountain, who has 1,700 students in grades nine through 12," Fleming said. "This year they came in second to us and we have 500 students in grades K through 12."
As part of receiving first place, the students will be traveling to Northern Arizona University in July to compete on the national level.
Members of the Belgreen Envirothon team are Keri Metcalf, Kyle Warren, Taylor Hester, Deborah Billingham, Martha Billingham, and B. J. Horton.
