This year the State Envirothon Competition was held on May 19th and 20th, 2015 at the University of Pittsburgh Johnstown Campus and the Windber Recreation Park. Each winning team from the County Envirothon competitions were in attendance from a total of 63 counties. Of those 63 counties, representing Bradford County was Troy High School. This year they won the Bradford County Envirothon with a score of 411 points out of 500.
The team was led by Nathan Schanbacher, Agriculture Teacher and FFA advisor at Troy High School. Members of the team are Tricia Hojnowski, Casey Baxter, MaKenna Martin, Dawn Zimmerman and Nick Martin. Bradford County came in 7th place overall with a score of 469.33. They placed 2nd overall in the oral component with a score of 97.33.
“That is an extremely impressive placing. The Envirothon is open to every school in the state (including home schools, private, charter, etc.). They placed 2nd in the oral component which is a very hard process. I am extremely impressed with how hard they worked to prepare for this event”, stated Schanbacher.
Cathy Yeakel, District Manager for the Bradford County Conservation District and State Envirothon Board Member, said “I am so proud of them all. It made me feel so good to be able to be there and cheer for the Bradford County Team when I heard their name get called. They should all be very proud of themselves for such a great accomplishment!”
“This was Troy’s second year in the Envirothon. Last year Troy placed 35th out of 62 teams. What an impressive jump from 35th place to 7th," said Yeakel.
This year 17 teams competed from Troy, Athens, Canton, Northeast Bradford, Wyalusing and North Rome Christian School competed in the Bradford County Envirothon. All County Schools, home schools, charters, etc. are encouraged to attend. For information on how to get your school involved, please contact Dan Rhodes, Environmental Educator or Cathy Yeakel, District Manager at 570-265-5539 x6.
Article submitted by Cathy Yeakel and Nathan Schanbacher