From left, are Junior Team Members Grace Friedberg, Piper Ellis, Bronwyn Harrison, Daniela Islas, and Cordelia Grandon. Photos provided by Warsaw Community Schools.

Press Release

WARSAW — On Wednesday, April 27, 10 students represented Warsaw Community High School at the state envirothon competition at Conner Prairie in Fishers.

Envirothon promotes environmental education to high school students. The goal is to raise awareness of the importance of achieving and maintaining a natural balance between the quality of life and of the environment. Teams compete by answering questions in five areas, which include soils and land use, aquatic ecology, wildlife, forestry, and a current issue which is waste to resources this year. At the state level, teams also prepare an oral presentation with a solution to an environmental problem related to the current issue.

The team of Piper Ellis, Grace Friedberg, Cordelia Grandon, Bronwyn Harrison, and Daniela Islas had an excellent showing with their oral presentation project on developing a community compost pile, with judges commenting that it was “well-researched,” presented “professionally” and with “much poise.”

The senior team of Katelynn Boyle, Cadence Gibson, Rachel Doyle, Harrison Phipps, and Claire Walker went into the state competition having won the regionals. They were the only team in the state to place in the top three of all categories. For the written portion of the exam, they finished first, including a perfect score in aquatic ecology. Their oral project of “Establishing Native Groundcover on the Hoosier Landfill” placed third, with comments from the judges that they were “well-informed and very poised” and “really analyzed the problem and thought about all impacts with natural resources.” In the overall competition, this team placed second in the state.

Darci Zolman and the Kosciusko Soil and Water Conservation District sponsored WCHS’s teams.

From left, are Senior Team Members Harrison Phipps, Claire Walker, Cadence Gibson, Rachel Doyle, and Katelynn Boyle.