Yuma home-schoolers overcome challenges to place third in Arizona Envirothon

Lack of a regular classroom didn't slow down a team of home-schooled Yuma teenagers competing in the annual Arizona Envirothon to test their knowledge of environmental science and natural resource management.
 
The Home Educators of Yuma team placed third overall in the event held recently on the shores of the Verde River at Dead Horse Ranch State Park, and also placed third in the challenging Aquatic Ecology Ecostation competition.

Team members included Kira Sund, Jasmine Lambert, Victoria Anderson, Tyler Adler and Kani Bergqvist. They were coached by Mary Sund and Laurina Bergqvist.
 
Ten teams from high schools across the state traveled to the center of Arizona to address a challenge central to Arizona’s tourism-driven industry: the effects of recreation on natural resources.
 
The five-member teams demonstrated their skills in water quality assessment, hydrology, forest management, wildlife identification and ecology, agriculture and soil sciences.
 
In addition, teams developed land use plans for a true-to-life, riverside wildlife area subject to heavy recreation from Phoenix and Flagstaff residents. They then presented their plans to a panel of judges.
 
The hope is that the students' participation will increase "their awareness of the effects of their recreation on the environment and make them thoughtful participants in outdoor recreation," said Rodney Held, Arizona Envirothon executive director.
 
A team from Flagstaff’s Sinagua High School took first place and will represent Arizona at a competition with other North American state and provincial champions at the Canon Envirothon to be held at Northern Arizona University this summer.
 
Tucson’s University High School took second place.
 
Sund said she feels good about the home-schoolers' performance - considering the special challenges they faced.
 
She noted that the Tucson team has a regularly scheduled Envirothon class that meets five days a week and has University of Arizona resources to draw on.
 
The Sinagua team spent months preparing for the competition during lunch, after school and by conducting field research.
 
The home schoolers only met a few hours a week for six weeks to work on their Envirothon preparation with other studies. Otherwise, they studied on their own. And the home schoolers have fewer opportunities to practice public speaking.

"It just makes a tough competition," Sund said.
 
Co-coach Bergqvist started a junior Toastmasters program in Yuma to give the eco-students some public speaking experience.
 
The team also got some help from a Kofa Refuge ranger and other agencies that deal with recreation use on public lands.
 
Karen Schedler, Arizona Envirothon testing coordinator, told team coaches: “The teams competing this year are the best-prepared teams in the 11 years of Arizona Envirothon.  This reflects the dedication of the students and the coaches - at each of the schools.”
 
This was the second Envirothon team coached by Sund.
 
She put together a home-schooled team two years ago because her son and daughter had competed in the Envirothon in North Carolina, where the family previously lived, and really wanted to take part again.
 
That year, the home schoolers came in second among 20 teams.
 
Sund is still weighing whether to coach a team next year, when her daughter will be a senior. It would be nice to have another shot at first place, she said.


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Joyce Lobeck can be reached at
jlobeck@yumasun.com or 539-6853.