WARM BEACH – Alexis Anderson, 14, popped a needle from a coniferous tree into her mouth, angling her head in thought as it settled on her tongue.
“Eww! You ate it!” said Amber Millan, 13, a fellow eighth-grader from Sky Valley Education Center in Monroe.
Alexis explained that she was attempting to identify the tree the needle came from by its taste.
“Well, it’s not rosemary, for sure,” Amber said.
Alexis’ guess for the test question was wrong, but that’s OK.
The team of primarily eighth-graders simply came to get their feet wet at the 2006 Northwest Regional Envirothon, an environment-themed competition for high schools Wednesday at Warm Beach Christian Camps and Conference Center about five miles south of Stanwood.
Ten high school teams from King, Snohomish, Skagit and Whatcom counties pitted their knowledge of soils, wildlife, forestry, aquatics and current issues, such as climate change. They vied for trips to the state competition and to move a step closer to winning college scholarships at the international contest in the summer.
Stanwood High School agriculture classes fielded two teams, as did the alternative Sky Valley Education Center, which has an environmental program.
“We learn how to protect the environment more. … Since we live around here, it’s nice to know what’s going on,” said Lena Rink, 16, a Stanwood junior and member of the top-placing team.
“The more we know about the environment, the more we’re able to help it,” said McKenna Gomes, 16, a Sky Valley junior.
The comments reflect a goal of Envirothon, said Lois Ruskell, education coordinator at the Snohomish Conservation District.
“Some of these kids will probably be going into this as a career. Others will just become more informed citizens” and learn to “tread a little lighter on our planet,” she said.
Besides identifying trees, the forestry test also had students document parts of a tree section, determine what causes root rot and calculate the height of a tree, among other tasks.
“I think it’s a great experience to be out in the woods,” said Pat James, 15, a Sky Valley ninth-grader as he tramped over soggy leaves, surrounded by Western red cedars. “You learn a lot.”
Nearby at the soils station, Stanwood High students distinguished among the different horizons, or layers, of earth created in the soil-forming process.
Stanwood adviser Ryan Ovenell said the competition augments his agricultural classes. “It just gives hands-on, practical application to what they’re learning in class,” he said.
Monroe adviser Deb Schuldt said the competition helps open students’ eyes.
“Being in a community that values this information helps them to value it,” she said. “And they get to rub shoulders with people in the field.”
The Snohomish Conservation District organizes the regional competition with help from Washington State University’s Extension Program and others. Volunteers from the agencies write and judge each test.
The top teams from each county now advance to the state Envirothon May 23-24 at King County’s Camp Sealth on Vashon Island. The North American competition, sponsored by the Canon copier company, will be July 23-29 at the University of Manitoba in Canada.
Stanwood High School’s Team No. 1 placed first overall in Wednesday’s competition with 228 points, squeaking past King County’s Pacific Science Center team at 227 points.
Members of the winning Stanwood team are seniors Anika Eddy, 18; Todd Jacobsen, 17; and Graham Logen, 18; and juniors Matt Kline, 17; and Rink.
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