Two teams from Clay County High School earned first and second place at the West Virginia Envirothon Thursday afternoon at Cedar Lakes Conference Center in Jackson County.
The Clay County team that included students Skylar Adkins, Hollie Conley, Brooklyn Anderson, Sophia Berberich and Grace Bass took home the top prize, a $5,000 scholarship to share, and will go on to represent West Virginia at this summer’s NCF-Envirothon, which will be held July 20-26, 2025, at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
The second-place team consisted of students Parker Taylor, Maddy Morton, Trent Hinkle, Jamie Grose and Kaylah Kennedy, and took the name “Clay County Conifers.” They will share a $4,000 scholarship.
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 scenario was “Fostering Stewardship in WV’s Changing Forest.”
The scenario required students to help two landowners manage their property through forest stewardship and help them choose and meet their objectives, then explain their reasoning during an oral presentation.
The two Clay County teams topped a team from Morgantown High School, which finished in third place and will share a $3,000 scholarship; the Ravenswood FFA team from Ravenswood High School ($2,000), which finished in fourth place; and the fifth-place Doddridge FFA team from Doddridge County High School, which earned a $1,500 scholarship.
Rounding out the top 10 teams were: the Moorefield High School team in sixth place; the Jefferson High School “Fungis” team in seventh place; the Webster County High School “Crispy Critters” team in eighth place; the Jefferson High School “Goopy Gars” team in ninth place and Oak Glen High School’s “Ecomaniacs” team in 10th place.
Teams who scored the highest in each of the five Envirothon “stations” also shared $500 awards. The Doddridge FFA team won the Wildlife station award; the Morgantown High School team won the Aquatics station award; the Clay County Conifers won the Forestry station award and the first-place Clay County team, with the name “Tuff Titmice,” took the Soils station award. Webster County’s “Crispy Critters” team won the fifth topic station award.
The top-scoring Clay County team that included Adkins, Conley, Anderson, Berberich and Bass also won the Top FFA Team award. The team’s advisors are Kelsey McFarland and Hunter Hannah.
The highest-scoring rookie team this year was Oak Glen’s “Ecomaniacs” from Hancock County.
This year’s statewide competition also tested students’ problem-solving abilities and their knowledge about the environment, natural resources, and conservation.
Teams participated from: Braxton, Clay, Doddridge, Hampshire, Hancock, Hardy, Jackson, Jefferson, Monongalia, Monroe, Pocahontas, Roane, Tyler, Webster and Wood counties.
Sponsors for the West Virginia Envirothon include the Weyerhaeuser Foundation, Berkshire Hathaway Energy Gas Transmission and Storage, the West Virginia Conservation Agency, the EQT Foundation, the Northern Panhandle Conservation District, the West Virginia Department of Agriculture, the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the West Virginia Department of Education, the West Virginia Forestry Association, the Western Conservation District and the Potomac Valley Conservation District.
Numerous volunteers make up the West Virginia Envirothon Committee, which includes representatives from the West Virginia Association of Conservation Districts, the West Virginia Division of Forestry, the West Virginia Department of Agriculture, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, WVU Extension, the West Virginia Conservation Agency, USDA-NRCS and several of the state’s 14 conservation districts.
