A group of Dobie High School students won top honors at the 2014 Texas Envirothon, an intensive three-day competition designed to help students throughout the state develop “knowledgeable, skilled and dedicated citizens willing to work toward achieving and maintaining a natural balance between the quality of life and the quality of the environment.”
Throughout the competition, students participated in a rigorous series of presentations followed by an outdoor series of tests and on-the-spot data gathering in five different fields including Aquatics, Forestry, Soil, Wildlife and Sustainable Agriculture.
After students were tested, they received a real world problem and presented a solution during an oral presentation. The presentation round was the most challenging part of the competition because students had to tie in knowledge about each environmental topic into the presentation.
Dobie's team included seniors Brian To and Cindy Nguyen, who were joined by juniors Vincent Gonzales and Laura van Barneveld, an exchange student from the Netherlands. Together, they took the Extra Mile Award for being most spirited and gracious.
Several judges commented on the wonderful attitude the Dobie team exhibited. They also took First Place in the oral presentation, Sixth Place in Soil Science and Sixth Place in Aquatics. Students competed against teams across Texas, some of which were seasoned veterans.
“For this team’s first appearance they reflected the pride and spirit of Dobie High School,” Tracy Whatley, Dobie’s secondary biology teacher, said.
For more information about the competition visit www.texasenvirothon.org