HOWARD — Fifteen East Knox FFA members recently competed in the 2025 Area 3 Envirothon held at Shadow Lake Campground in Monroe County near Woodsfield on April 23 where they competed as three, five-member teams.
East Knox FFA team 1 consisted of Ariana Talbott, Hayden Baker, Aiden Kapper, Blake Elliott, and Dylan Springer. This group placed 17th out of 44 teams in the event.
East Knox FFA team 2 members Jasmine Smith, Mackenzie Wilson, Ariel Atkinson, Ava Page, and Miranda Fawcett finished 8th in the Area 3 contest.
Team 3 consisted of five underclassmen. The team members were Alexia Wine, Nealie Oliver, Hayden Garman, Madisyn Frost, and Kylie Griffith.
Area 3 consists of the 16 counties of Belmont, Carroll, Coshocton, Guernsey, Harrison, Holmes, Jefferson, Knox, Licking, Monroe, Morgan, Muskingum, Noble, Perry, Tuscarawas, and Washington.
Five Area Envirothons are conducted around Ohio in April and May with the top four teams from each of these Area competitions progressing to the Ohio Envirothon in June at Wilmington College. East Knox FFA team 2 was just 6 points out of fourth place.
The ENVIROTHON is designed to stimulate, reinforce and enhance interest in the environment and natural resources among high school students.
The Envirothon tests students’ knowledge of soils, forestry, wildlife, aquatic ecology and current environmental issues. This year’s issue was “Fostering Forest Stewardship in a Canopy of Change.”
In addition, the Envirothon encourages cooperative decision-making and team building. While each student on an Envirothon team is challenged to contribute his or her personal best, the score that counts at the end of the Envirothon is the team score.
East Knox FFA has qualified and competed 15 times in the 37-year history of the State Envirothon and won the inaugural competition in 1989 advancing to the national event in Massachusetts.