John Jay takes seventh at Envirothon
John Jay High School’s Envirothon team, unexpected champions of the 2008 Hudson Valley Regional Envirothon, took home a seventh place award at the state championships last week, out of 55 regional champions. The team, comprised of Lily Applebaum, Alex Brody, Connor Hershkowitz, Erin Knapp, and Eliza Mutino, with Meredith Juliana as an alternate and led by teacher adviser Dr. Linda Burke, attended the championships on Wednesday, May 21. Dan Barson, who was on the team that won the regional championships, was replaced by Lily because of a scheduling conflict.
According to the school, this was the highest placing of any Westchester team since 2002.
The state envirothon is composed of competitions in five ecological subjects and an oral presentation on a particular land-use planning problem, which was posed to the teams before the regional championships.
John Jay’s team placed in the top 10, not only on the oral presentation but also in each of the subject areas, taking home third place in soils and current ecological issues, sixth place in aquatics, and seventh place in both forestry and wildlife.
This was the third year in which John Jay High School competed in the regional Envirothon, and the first year that the school’s team has attended the state championships. Every member of the team is taking or has taken Dr. Burke’s Advanced Placement environmental science class.
