The 2019 West Virginia Envirothon had a successful turn at Canaan Valley Resort State Park on April 17 and 18.

A team from Moorefield High School narrowly edged the 2018 Envirothon winners from Ravenswood.

The Moorefield team, led by adviser Gretchen Cremann, features students Ean Carr, Matthew Wright, Tayla Ours, Isabelle Nesbit and Thomas Williams. Matthew Weatherholt is an alternate team member. The team will share a $5,000 scholarship and will compete at the National Conservation Foundation Envirothon at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, N.C., from July 28 to Aug. 2.

The difference between the Moorefield and Ravenswood teams was within five points. Moorefield finished with a total of 481.1 points.

Five-member teams who participate in the Envirothon explore current environmental and earth sciences within the framework of five disciplines: aquatics, forestry, soils, wildlife and a current environmental topic known as the "fifth topic." This year's fifth topic was the effects of technology on the environment and on agricultural production.

Students are tested on their skills, problem-solving abilities and knowledge about natural resources, conservation and the environment.
Teams also earned station awards for performing best at each of the five stations. Moorefield High won the fifth topic award; Ravenswood won the soils station award; Jefferson Agriscience FFA won the wildlife station award; Braxton County FFA won the forestry station award and "Water Pennies," a team from Berkeley Springs, won the aquatics station award.

The top five overall teams, after Moorefield and Ravenswood, were: Jefferson Agriscience FFA in third place, Braxton County FFA in fourth place and Water Pennies in fifth place.    

The teams competing this year were from Braxton, Cabell, Calhoun, Clay, Doddridge, Gilmer, Hardy, Jackson, Jefferson, Marion, Marshall, Mineral, Morgan, Preston, Raleigh, Roane and Webster counties.          

The West Virginia Envirothon Committee awarded $15,000 in college scholarships during the event. Since 1997, $215,000 in college scholarships have been awarded to West Virginia high school students through the Envirothon.

Once again, the West Virginia Conservation Agency awarded the third-place scholarship of $2,500, which was won by Jefferson Agriscience (see photo below) this year.