A Guide to Competing in Envirothon
Climate change is the pressing issue of our generation. While there are many advocacy groups out there and public speaking roles for young teens, the spotlights are not for everyone, which brings us to the Envirothon competition. For those familiar with other discipline-focused academic-style competitions like USNCO (US National Chemistry Olympiad), USAPHO (USA Physics Olympiad), and some events in Science Olympiad, Envirothon will be very similar.
What is Envirothon?
Envirothon is an international (US, Canada, China) competition involving 25,000 students and focusing on ecological principles. With alumni currently at Harvard University and the World Wildlife Fund, it is quite an established competition. Joining this competition, like other events, will expose you to a network of past winners and many new friends.
It takes place roughly every July and the finals location switches around every year, having recently been in Idaho, North Carolina, and Nebraska. While these locations may not be particularly interesting for the urban-inclined, most high school students probably won’t have the chance to visit these states on their own.
Funded by the non-governmental National Conservation Foundation, the curriculum is centered around “aquatic ecology, forestry, soils and land use, wildlife, and current environmental issues”. However, there is an annual theme that presentations should be centered around. The 2023 theme was “Adapting to a Changing Climate”. Here’s a link to past topics. In general, these topics are all pertinent, pressing issues in major areas of the globe.
How to Get Started with Envirothon
Find 4 other interested teammates and an advisor (teacher or parent), who’s willing to chaperone and take you on field trips to competition sites. Find the nearest program near you for information on competing at the state or regional level qualifiers. The information on this is somewhat sparse on the national website, but contacting your region-wide competition organizer should be extremely beneficial.
Register for the competition online on the registration page. Registration is due by May 1 of every year. Just know that you are only eligible to compete at the national competition if you had qualified through the regional or state-wide qualifiers.
Begin compiling research on each of the five topics. A good place to start is with the provided resources on their website. They are organized by the 5 major curriculum topics.
Tips on Studying for Envirothon
Organize your research. When you prepare for knowledge-based competitions, it’s always good practice to create a binder of notes and resources you’ve found useful over time. Remember to include relevant statistics and the associated source if anyone wants to follow up with you on something you said.
Focus on what you don’t know. For such a broad competition, it helps to first know the lay of the land. To do that, you have to understand what is covered in your school’s curriculum and how best you can complement that with your own studies.
Keep things interesting. The biggest obstacle to studying I found was a lack of motivation. To do that, constantly vary what you’re studying and always look for new ways to keep motivation. I like to alternate between different books and focus on different topics every once in a while.
Tips on Orals for Envirothon
Responding to Questions. Since oral presentation is 20 minutes, followed by 10 minutes of questioning by judges, be prepared for questions. However, if you really aren’t sure about the question, you can say “I don’t know exactly how to respond to that at this time”, then go about how you would find out the answer.
Split up the content evenly. Judges don’t want to see one teammates doing significantly more work than others.
Rehearse. Designate practice days specifically for rehearsing your presentation, preferably in front of adults or subject matter experts. Then, you’ll truly understand the depth of your material and how well it comes across in a speaking environment.
Make presentations interesting. If you’re presenting with a slideshow, there are many pitfalls you may come across. Slide show design is a whole article I can write in of itself, but generally, try to minimize words, get rid of logos, and have consistent style.
Summary
Envirothon is a great competition for climate-conscious students who want a once-of-a-lifetime experience in ecology before university. However, in the end, it is just one of many competitions that you could choose to compete in.
Finding good climate science competitions is hard to come by, and while this competition may not seem the most interesting, it is definitely worthwhile to try.
Good luck!
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