As state champs, Bob Jones Envirothon Team headed to Missouri
After winning the state championship, the Bob Jones Envirothon Team will compete at the National Envirothon Competition at Missouri State University in Springfield on July 27 through Aug. 2. (CONTRIBUTED)
MADISON – The Envirothon Team from Bob Jones High School captured the state championship and will compete at the national meet in Missouri this summer.
The 4H Center in Columbiana on Lay Lake on the Coosa River hosted the Alabama State Envirothon Competition on April 9-11. Eleven teams at the state contest had advanced over 50 teams at regional meets, coach Ben Johnston said.
Envirothon Team members are Kayla Buckelew, Brody DeSilva, Alan Philip George and Siddhu Srikakolapu. They conquered teams from powerhouses like Hoover, Spain Park and Central high schools.
Bob Jones will travel to the National Envirothon Competition at Missouri State University in Springfield on July 27 through Aug. 2 to join teams from all states and Canadian provinces. The Bob Jones team “has a love of science and ‘mad’ public speaking skills,” Johnston said.
“The highest an Alabama Team has ever finished is 13th, so our goal is to beat that number and possibly bring home the gold,” Johnston said.
At the national contest, the Bob Jones team will split to rotate through a series of hour-long mini-courses on topics including soils, wildlife, aquatics and forestry, along with the special topic of urban/community forestry.
The next morning, the team will take a written test. On July 31, they will receive a “special issue. I must take their cell phones and cannot talk to them. They must put together an oral presentation and present it to judges on Aug. 1,” Johnston said.
The top three teams will present oral presentations for all participants. The written test counts 500 points; the oral presentation counts 200 points.
Johnston is thrilled at their state championship “but seeing them learn so much in such a short period of time, and then present a solution to a problem, was equally impressive. Plus, they’re really smart, fun, cool kids that I really enjoyed being around.”
Johnston teaches biology, molecular biology and advanced placement environmental science and biology at Bob Jones.
