NNHS Science Team Takes Home Top Honors at North American Envirothon

The following was originally posted on the NPS District News site:

After a superb 2012/2013 school year, five students from the Newton North High School Science Team spent part of this summer adding another accolade to the team’s resume.

The Newton North students, winners of the 2013 Massachusetts Envirothon, took home second place at the 2013 North American Envirothon. The top-tier finish earned the group $20,000 in college scholarships.

“In addition to their academic prowess, the team was a paragon of sportsmanship, collegiality, collaboration, and friendliness,” says Envirothon Coach Ann Dannenberg.

The students who represented Newton North at the North American Envirothon included team captain and recent NNHS graduate Malini Gandhi; rising seniors Ying Gao and Eliana Gevelber; and rising juniors Kaija Gahm and Kavish Gandhi.

Taking place August 4-9 at Montana State University in Bozeman, Mont., the North American Envirothon is an environmental education competition that tests teams on their knowledge of soils and land use, aquatic ecology, forestry, wildlife and current environmental issues. Teams are ranked based on points earned in written tests, oral presentations and hands-on field testing.

The annual North American event is the culmination of a series of local competitions that began during the school year; schools and organizations compete for the opportunity to represent their state, province, or territory at the North American Envirothon.

As the winners of this year’s Massachusetts Envirothon, the Newton North team represented the Commonwealth at the North American Envirothon, competing against 56 other student groups from the U.S. and Canada. While the team won second place overall, they placed first in the wildlife competition, second place in forestry, third place in soils and land use, and fourth place in aquatic ecology. The team also tied for first place in this year’s featured issue, rangeland management.

“They were great ambassadors of the Commonwealth and, with their peers from 56 other states and Canadian provinces, gave us in the older generations great hope for the future of our society and our planet,” Dannenberg says.

In addition to the second place finish at the North American Envirothon, the Newton North Science Team also accomplished the following during the 2012/2013 school year:

• First place, Massachusetts Envirothon

• Second place, Massachusetts State Science Olympiad

• Second place, Massachusetts TEAMS (“Tests of Engineering Aptitude, Mathematics, and Science”) competition

• Sixth place nationally, TEAMS National Competition, 9/10 division