North Harford’s very own environmentally focused competition team placed first in a district-wide competition, putting us on the map as a proactive and environmentally educated school.

     The Envirothon group focuses on five main topics with one topic that changes each year. The four that remain the same are forestry, wildlife, aquatics, and soils. While the topic for this year’s competition was adaptation to climate change. 

     The team worked to come up with a winning solution to this climate problem. With junior Anna O’Leary said, “leading up to our competitions, we meet almost every day after school.” 

     This work was put forth into a 15-minute presentation that addresses their problem. In this year’s case, it was climate change, and once their presentation has been scored by a collection of community leaders and judges, the team moves on to testing. 

      This testing is conducted in early May and will be held at the Boy Scout camp. “We take soil and water samples that we then analyze to help back up our research and potentially come up with an improved plan,” says Anna.

     The plan that the team came up with was quite creative. This plan is to implement a four-day school week throughout the year by 2025 across all of HCPS. “This can have a tremendous impact on our environment. Reducing water usage, electricity costs, and overall carbon emissions,” Says the coach of the Envirothon team, Mrs. Laura O’Leary. 

     This is a real solution, too, not just something that was done to impress a few judges. The goal of Envirothon is to create realistic solutions to problems facing our environment. 

     The team will continue to work hard and is excited about next year’s competition. They are ready to turn some heads and possibly even get one of their plans approved for our county. 

     “We still have a ways to go this year, but have already brainstormed some ideas for how we will come back even stronger next year,” says Mrs. O’Leary, who is also looking for new members to add to next year’s team. “The more the merrier.” 

     This club gives great insight into environmental issues and provides a fantastic basis for learning and problem-solving.

     Though all together the Envirothon team strives to not only be the best but to truly make a difference. They work for a cleaner and safer world that we can all enjoy.