Parkway North Envirothon Team Competes at Regionals

             On March 3, Parkway North High School’s four Envirothon teams will compete in the Saint Louis Regional Envirothon Competition at Powder Puff Valley.
             Envirothon member, junior Mohammed Khezri said, “I’m excited for [the competition]. It’s going to be a lot of hard work, but I can’t wait.”
             Each member of each team chooses a major and a minor to study from the five categories that are tested in the competition, which include wildlife, forestry, soils, aquatics, and the current issue.
             “I am very interested [in the soil category]. I originally though it wouldn’t be that interesting but it is.  It amazes me how much there is to know about soils,” said Khezri.
             During the competition each team is given a packet with questions concerning the five categories. In addition to the packet, each team must present an oral presentation based on the current issue, estuaries, where two chemically different bodies of water meet such as the cross section of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. This year’s oral presentation is about whether the choice of estuaries as the current issue was a good choice or not.
             “I think that it’s a good [oral question because] it expands our horizon. It makes us think about a topic that’s not direct to Missouri, so we have to learn all these indirect interconnections,” said Envirothon sponsor Russ Barton.
             After completing the packet and giving their oral presentation, all the teams are scored and the top two advance to state. However, if two teams from Parkway North place in the top two, a third team from a different school will be allowed to also advance to State.
             Barton said, “I think we’ve got four teams that are really fun, really easy to work with. I’m interested to see how they do because I have no idea [which teams will advance] based on the strength of the teams.”

By Brianna McCain