Students from six Vermilion County schools competed in this year’s Conservation Olympics at Forest Glen Preserve. The students who faced off Friday are all sixth graders.
(Some students head to the woods during competition.)
Lara Danzl, Environmental Education Supervisor for the Vermilion County Conservation District, outlined an example of the competition…
{Audio: ‘’One of our units talks about environmental concerns that we’re having with, like, single-use plastics and global climate changes that’s happening. And so they study the concepts behind that and then while they’re doing one of their Olympic style events out here they have to answer questions that come from the guide book.’’}
Some of the games included a Wildlife Scramble, Environmental Relay Race, Animal Game, and Obstacle Course.
Volunteer Ken Hannan of Westville explained what students did on the obstacle course….
{AUDIO: ‘’They jump three hurdles. They answer a question that’s down there. They proceed to the tire race where the two young ones get inside a Hula-hoop and they have to jump through the tires (and then) answer a question. They proceed from there to the tube crawl and they crawl through – it’s probably about a twenty-inch diameter tube that’s twelve to fourteen feet long, answer a question (and then it’s) on to the balance beam.’’}
And that was just a very small portion of the course. All questions were related to conservation.
(A team from Georgetown Mary Miller Panthers heads for the finish of the Obstacle Course.)
Brenna Karcher, Environmental Educator with the Vermilion County Conservation District, was running the Animal Game….
{‘’All of these are animals that are local. All of these are based in conservation education and understanding our local eco-systems. And each student has the ability to study from a workbook that we provide them at the beginning of the year to help them prepare for this game.’’}
Danzl noted this was the 38th year for the competition…
{AUDIO: ‘’So there might be some listeners out there today that are either listening or reading this that they remember going to Conservation Olympics when they were in sixth grade. I remember coming when I was a sixth-grade student at Diamond Elementary School in the Oakwood School District. So the long-standing tradition of this program shows just how successful it is, how much the teachers appreciate it. And I’m hopeful that we’re going to be able to continue it on for another thirty-eight years even after today.’’}
(Teams look on during the Animal Game competition.)
The Salt Fork Wild Turkeys took first place in the competition, followed by Oakwood Miller in 2nd place, and Oakwood Johnson finished 3rd. The Salt Fork Cardinals, Schlarman Academy and Oakwood Atwood finished in a 3-way tie for 4th, and Salt Fork Blue Jays were 5th. The Gary L Wilford Sportsmanship Award went to the team from Schlarman Academy.
Participating schools included Oakwood, Salt Fork, Judith Giacoma (from Westville), Mary Miller Junior High (from Georgetown), Schlarman Academy and Bismarck.
