Idaho Envirothon seeks more student participants in fun, science-based educational event

The Idaho Envirothon is a unique, hands-on educational competition held once a year at the Living Waters Ranch in Challis.

It’s such a great event that students and organizers are hoping more Idaho teams get involved.

“We want as many teams from across Idaho to come enjoy the setting and participate in this program, and just kind a get their hands dirty while they’re learning,” said Chris Banks, chairman of the event. “We really want more kids involved in this program.”

In the 2024 competition, North Idaho STEM Charter Academy captured first place – its second victory in a row.

How’s it feel? “Amazing!”

Was it scary? “Oh yeah, my hands are still shaking.”

“We’ve really grown as a team. It’s been an amazing year. It’s an amazing feeling,” said Keira Barnhart, a member of the North Idaho STEM Charter Academy team, based in Rathdrum.

“The Envirothon competition is great; it’s a lot of fun,” says Colton Burnside, a returning member of the North Idaho STEM Charter Academy team. “We don’t play any sports like football or basketball, instead we do more knowledge-based competitions.

“We’ve done the Idaho State Forestry Contest at Farragut State Park the last couple of years, and we also do a lot of robotics competitions such as First Tech Challenge and First Lego League.”

The Idaho Envirothon is similar to the State Forestry Contest in that it’s a great learning opportunity. But it is a competition. So that makes it edgy and challenging – students have to study ahead of time and be ready to “hit the ground running” to  score well.

At the Idaho Envirothon, students get a 40-minute presentation on Aquatics, Forestry, Soils, Wildlife and a current-issue topic. Then the 5-member teams take a quiz after each presentation.

Then comes the hard part – they’re given a fictional scenario to focus on a current issue – in this case, create a renewable energy portfolio for a make-believe Idaho town called “Envirotown.”

The teams get a few hours in the evening to craft their solutions and create hand-drawn visual aids. The next morning, they must give a 10-minute presentation on their solution with all five team members participating equally.

The presentation aspect of the Envirothon is part of what makes it both challenging and exciting. All of that, combined with a field trip to the mountains and outdoor learning, makes it fun, too.

“It’s totally one of the most memorable weekends of the school year … we’ve done lot of different events, but the Envirothon has been the most beneficial but also, exciting,” said Jessalyn Myers, North Idaho STEM Charter Academy.

We asked the students participating in the competition: do you think other Idaho kids are missing out?

“Oh yeah. I’d love to see more N. Idaho teams come … we’re the only N. Idaho team,” Barnhart said.

Asking this year’s participants why they’re participating in the event

“The first year, I loved it,” said Mary Plumlee of the Idaho City team. “I was really nervous coming into it. But it was really incredible. You have a whole new perspective on the world.”

Added Eliana Cecil of the Mackay Lost River E-Rangers team, “I heard it had some really good scholarship opportunities come from it, and I’ve been interested in different types of things like wildlife, soil, and different things like that, I’ve done some speech competitions for the NRCS before, and they recommended this to us, so here we are!

“I’m always looking for ways to build up my resume for going to college, and I’m looking to get into a STEM career, so different STEM-related things I could put on my resume, definitely help,” Cecil said. “I met a kid from Virginia who just went to nationals with an Envirothon group, and he said a bunch of colleges were considering his application because Envirothon is very prestigious, so yeah!”

Winners of the Idaho Envirothon get to compete in the International Envirothon, to be held this summer at Hobart and Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York.

Christian Tule Morales, a member of Gooding Team #3, said, “I feel like it’s important to worry about where we’re at, the planet we’re on. It’s important to take care of it. We’ve definitely tried to fix it, but it’s becoming a bigger problem. … Climate change, we have to address it, and we can’t just let it sit there and let our planet die.

“Last year, I got nominated by one of my science teachers, Mrs. Freiberg said I should get involved, and I thought, why not? I love the planet, I love to try new things. For me personally, I want to be a professional soccer player, that’s what I want. I like peeking into new things, the environment, I love learning, so I like it.”

Said Marcella Bills of the Pocatello team, “I was part of Pocatello’s Earth Club, I care about the environment, and I wanted to take some action locally. This seemed like a cool opportunity to learn more about Idaho’s environment.”

Zoe Doerr, another Pocatello team member, said, “I’m involved because this is what I want to do with my life, help work with the environment and environmental sciences. Natural resources are really important when it comes to conservation, so that’s been really cool to see how all of this ties together, and then competing here and see what other people have done and what their degrees are in, and that helps inspire us.”

How can we get more Idaho teams to participate?

Eleven teams from throughout Idaho participated in the annual educational event in 2024. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were more than 20 teams that participated each year. Organizers would like to attract more teams from throughout the state of Idaho.

The Idaho Association of Soil Conservation Districts is the primary sponsor of the event. Teams need to reach out to local soil and water conservation districts to receive a sponsorship to participate in the event. North Idaho STEM was sponsored by the Kootenai-Shoshone SWCD.

Other participating teams in 2024 were:

• Two teams from Pocatello, sponsored by the Portneuf SWCD and Bannock County Farm Bureau.
• Three teams from Gooding, sponsored by Wood River SWCD, Gooding SCD and Camas SCD.
• Two teams from Idaho City, sponsored by the Squaw Creek SWCD.
• One team from Malad, sponsored by the Oneida SWCD.
• North Gem, sponsored by Caribou SWCD.
• Mackay, sponsored by the Butte SWCD.

“I would go to schools, honestly, and tell people about how much fun it is, how interactive it is,” Cecil said. “I didn’t know about it until some people from NRCS told me about it. I think if they reached out to schools more, and told them how awesome it is, it would help a lot.”

“I think the biggest thing is publicity,” added Burnside of North Idaho STEM. “There’s a lot of people who might really enjoy this, if they were able to see what it’s like to be part of a competition like this. North Idaho could come out in bigger force in future years if the word was spread a little bit better.

“With bigger word and showing the benefits of this competition and how it’s benefit kids and how much they enjoy it, we could get a better turnout from the northern region of Idaho.”

Said Mary Plumlee of Idaho City, “I think go to the schools and tell them about it. Take them on field trips. Learning about the environment in a classroom is really boring. Learning about it outside when you’re next to the creek and they’re teaching you about the bugs in the creek gives you a whole new perspective.”

“The teachers/advisers encouraging kids from a young age, to think about their planet, little kids love to be outside, if they could spend a little time learning about what’s going on,” said Morales of Gooding. “The kids won’t really worry about it, once they’re older, they’ll understand and they’ll be like oh, we can do something here, we can help here, it’ll bring more community, a large base around the Envirothon, and it’ll bring more teams, more interest, and then the opportunities that the Envirothon can bring to you, outstanding.”

For more information about the Idaho Envirothon, go to https://idahoenvirothon.weebly.com/.