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Home-schooled students win 'Envirothon'
News Virginian (Waynesboro) ^ | Thursday, April 1, 2004 | BERTRAND M. GUTIERREZ

Posted on 04/02/2004 3:22:24 AM PST by The Other Harry

Thursday, April 1, 2004

Home-schooled students win 'Envirothon'
Winners move on in competition to foster environmental awareness

By BERTRAND M. GUTIERREZ
News Virginian

STAUNTON - If your city had a river that constantly flooded, causing expensive property damage, what would you do about it?

The question was one of many hurdles Valley high school students faced during the heated Envirothon competition in Gypsy Hill Park here Thursday.

They may be students, but they could teach elected officials how to down-zone, hire an arborist or use hydroponics.

These are the future stewards of communities, parks, lakes and forests, said Sandy Greene, a member of the organizing Headwaters Soil and Water Conservation District office, in Verona.

The contest is a series of hands-on, oral and written tests. Teams go from station to station, strutting their knowledge of soils, forestry, wildlife, aquatics and environmental issues.

"We have a real hotbed of competition in this area," Greene said. "This is the cream of the crop."

All teams have worked since the winter on their presentations on how to fix their community’s flooding problem. Other planning issues also were addressed: housing, historic preservation, schools, farms and businesses.

Rebecca Leatherwood, a Wilson High School team member, pointed to a poster board and said during her presentation: "We incorporated some of the elements of Staunton’s downtown revitalization into our own project."

Teammate Samantha Floyd added: "We tried to take the cheapest and most effective route possible and still make it a nice place to live."

Jim Nichols, a Waynesboro resident and member of the Headwaters Soil and Conservation District, was impressed.

"We have students who know more about what’s going on than the people in government do," he said.

Six schools with five-member teams jockeyed for the local title and a shot at the regional contest in Front Royal next month. The winner of that contest could go to the state and national Envirothons.

Waynesboro High School was not represented - even though one of the key questions was about flood damage. City officials have grappled with the question for years. Neither Laurie McCullough, director of instruction, nor Superintendent Lowell Lemons could be reached Thursday afternoon for comment.

Fort Defiance High School was the defending champion. Last year, the team won the local, regional and state competition. On the national stage, they placed 12th.

But coach Brent Hull said his first-string team graduated last year. Only one member remained. Still, he had high hopes for the up-and-comers.

Fort Defiance came in second this year, ceding the top spot to a group of home-schooled students, all from Augusta County, while Stuarts Draft placed third.

Al Bourgeois, one of the 4-H/Homeschoolers coaches, said the competition was tight.

"The kids, whether they’re in high school or home school, they just buckled down," he said.

The top three teams were joined by Wilson and Robert E. Lee high schools, as well as the Central Shenandoah Valley Regional Governor’s School, in competing for the local title.

Middle River High School, from Botetourt County, and Rockbridge County High School also competed, but for their respective regions.

Organized by the soil and water conservation groups in each state, Envirothon began in 1979 in Pennsylvania and became a national competition in 1988. Virginia schools entered the fray in 1995.

"These are the kids who are the future of natural resources," said Greene, the Headwaters conservationist.

Contact Bertrand M. Gutierrez at bgutierrez@newsvirginian.com


TOPICS: Culture/Society; US: Virginia
KEYWORDS: children; education; environment; homeschool; homeschooled; homeschoolers; kids; smarter; success; winners
It's interesting to me that one needs to get fairly far into the above article before finding any reference to home-schooled students. Maybe I'm just paranoid, but it suggests to me that the reporter and the person who writes the headlines may have different views on the subject.
1 posted on 04/02/2004 3:22:25 AM PST by The Other Harry
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2 posted on 04/02/2004 3:24:12 AM PST by Support Free Republic (Don't be a nuancy boy)
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To: Jim Robinson; John Robinson
When you get time to make another set of adjustments, I think FR would benefit from having an category for Education / Schools. Something like that.

Thank you for all you do!

3 posted on 04/02/2004 3:31:45 AM PST by The Other Harry
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To: Tax-chick
Have you got a homeschool *ping list*?
4 posted on 04/02/2004 5:52:07 AM PST by TaxRelief (Become a dollar-a-day donor and help end the quarterly fundraisers!)
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To: farmfriend
ping
5 posted on 04/02/2004 7:20:47 AM PST by Libertarianize the GOP (Ideas have consequence)
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To: TaxRelief; netmilsmom
No, somebody does, but I can't think who, offhand. Stacey, do you know?

I'm waiting for the contest where they put boys on a treadmill and see how much electricity they generate :-). Billy and Tom would be strong competitors!
6 posted on 04/02/2004 8:20:37 AM PST by Tax-chick (I'm not making this up.)
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To: Tax-chick; 2Jedismom
I think 2jedismom has the homeschool ping list!

We had a sad situation here in MI along the same line of rejecting homeschoolers. There was a contest to design the MI state quarter by school children. On the State of Michigan website, the four top designs were displayed for people to vote on. One design was from a girl attending Holly Academy (charter school). It was leading by about 10,000 votes. A rep from Holly called the state to ask when the design would be picked. During the conversation, the lady mentioned that the leading design was from Holly Academy.
Our Dem/Canadian Governor picked another design (which still ended up with less votes) for our state quarter.
7 posted on 04/02/2004 10:07:16 AM PST by netmilsmom (Busybody of Free Republic)
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To: The Other Harry
Stupid article; it didn't answer the question it posed.
8 posted on 04/02/2004 10:17:05 AM PST by Old Professer
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To: The Other Harry; abbi_normal_2; Ace2U; Alamo-Girl; Alas; alfons; alphadog; amom; AndreaZingg; ...
Rights, farms, environment ping.
Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.
I don't get offended if you want to be removed.
9 posted on 04/02/2004 10:32:03 AM PST by farmfriend ( Isaiah 55:10,11)
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To: farmfriend
BTTT!!!!!!
10 posted on 04/02/2004 10:33:01 AM PST by E.G.C.
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To: Old Professer
Stupid article; it didn't answer the question it posed.

That struck me also. Overall, I think the reporter must be some kind of wussie, C average intern from the local JC. Whoever wrote that will do fine writing puff pieces about weddings and the like for local Sunday suppliments on a volunteer basis.

In a larger sense, that was just plain bad reporting in several respects. It takes the lead sentence and then completely disregards it. It disregards darn near everything that has any substance. It includes a lot of gratuitous names, but it is close to empty otherwise.

If I were the newspaper editor, I'd call that reporter into my office and thank him or her for all the excellent service. Now get out of here. That one would get a pink slip as fast as I could hand one out. The entire process might take five minutes.

Then I'd spend the rest of the day trying to figure out how that person got into the place to begin with. It wouldn't happen again.

11 posted on 04/02/2004 11:04:49 AM PST by The Other Harry
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To: Tax-chick; All; everyone; SOMEONE; Everybody; Kim_in_Tulsa; diotima; TxBec; SLB; BibChr; JenB; ...
Ping!
12 posted on 04/02/2004 1:05:34 PM PST by 2Jedismom (My mom gave me her scanner!)
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