On May 28, 2015, students from Mr. Mark Sunkel’s AP Environmental class and Mr. Thomas Hawthorne’s Horticulture class traveled to Cunningham Falls State Park in Thurmont, Maryland for the annual Maryland Envirothon competition.

Nineteen teams competed, including teams from Linganore, Walkersville, Urbana, Frederick, Middletown, and Catoctin.

In March, Sunkel took students Olivia DuBro, Sara Combs, Ryan Stark, Michele Reina, and Abby Hilton to the state park for a preparation and note-taking day focusing on five topics: Forestry, Soils, Aquatics, Wildlife, and Urban Forestry. Each student was assigned a specialization.

The Linganore students were divided into three teams– the Environmental students (DuBro, Combs, Stark, Reina, and Hilton,) and the Horticulture students (Rachel Strasburger, Kasey Carns, Kaycee Oland, Gian Giammanca, Jacob Frey, Austin Wallace, and Colin McFadden.)

The students participated in activities like fish identification, finding the circumference and age of a tree, and testing soil permeability. They had 20 minutes to answer questions at each topic station without help of notes or the internet.

While staff calculated results, the students enjoyed pizza and drinks provided by the Envirothon.

The AP Environmental team came in eleventh place, and the Horticulture team placed twelfth.

Though the teams did not qualify to move onto states, they learned valuable information about the environment and the nature around them.

Do you know about the environment? See if you can answer these questions Envirothon competitors were asked!

1. What is water turbidity? Answer.

2. What species family is the grey wolf placed in? Answer.

3. What five factors effect soil? Answer. 

4. What is the scientific name for a Flowering Dogwood tree? Answer.

5. How many people does an area need in order to be considered an “urban area?” Answer.