Envirothon to Bring Young Science Scholars to Botanical Garden

MELBOURNE, FLA. — Florida Tech’s lush Botanical Garden will be the setting for the regional, Indian River Lagoon, Envirothon, North America’s largest
environmental education program and contest for high school students, on Friday, Feb. 23, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Up to 175 students from high schools and
middle schools in Brevard, Indian River, Martin, Okeechobee and St. Lucie counties are expected to participate. Middle school students may compete for
recognition, but do not move on to the state competition.
Student teams will answer questions at stations located on the botanical garden trail. Questions are in five resource categories: forestry, soils, water,
wildlife and the Indian River Lagoon. Each High School team will give a presentation on the special topic of “Alternative/Renewable Energy.”
The winning team will advance to the Florida State competition at Jonathan Dickinson State Park in Hobe Sound on April 14th. The Florida State winner will
go to the national
contest in Geneva, New York.
The students receive a Florida-specific, detailed, Resource Guide CD-Rom. It contains more than 200 pages of information written by resource specialists
for each of the five topics.
Envirothon is a problem-solving, natural resource education program and competition. In the field, teams of students are challenged to use critical
thinking skills and work as a team to answer written questions and conduct hands-on investigations of environmental issues.
Kathy LaMartina, Florida Tech alumna, is regional Envirothon chair. For more information, contact LaMartina at (800) 250-4100.