Chapel Hill, NC – In March, the Woods Charter School Envirothon teams competed at the Regional Competition and came away a 1st place and a sweep of all categories for the Middle School team, Naturally Treeific, and a 1st, 4th, and 7th place for Woods Charter High School Teams, PhioSlothicals, The Cecils Sitting by the Seashore, and Turnover Turtles respectively.
The Woods Charter Middle School team – Naturally Treeific (Ashley Allushuski, Grace Hegland, Cordelia Hume, Mia Kalish, Lily St. Amant, and Wiley Sikes) – scored 490 out of 500 with 1st place every category – Aquatics, Current Environmental Issues, Forestry, Soils and Wildlife. The sweep of all categories has never happened before at regionals nor has the phenomenal score of 490 out of 500 points been seen. These students lived up to and exceeded expectations by scoring 40 points above their nearest competitor. They easily qualified for the State Competition that will be held at the end of April.
The 1st Place Woods High School Team – PhiloSlothicals (Tesia Bobrowski, Caroline Blythe, Rachel Deininger, Mattison Francis, and Henry Lindbo) – scored 460 out of 500 points with 3 top scores in Current Environmental Issues, Forestry and Soils and 2 second places in Aquatics and Wildlife.
The 4th place High School team – The Cecils Sitting by the Seashore (Eli Day, Daniel Falkovic, Levi Horil, Colin Ward, and Conor Ward) scored a 420 (10 points behind the 2nd place team) with 2nd places in Aquatics, Current Environmental Issues and Forestry.
Woods’ 7th place winners, Turnover Turtles (Maggie Johnston, Sarah Falkovic, Sean Nadasky, Olivia Osborne, April Sharp, and Melina Spencer) were only 15 points behind the 4th place team (405 total points) with 3rd place finishes in Aquatics, Current Environmental Issues, and Wildlife). All High School teams also qualified to go the State Tournament.
This marks the 7th year in a row that Woods Charter School teams have competed in the regional competition and have walked away with a least 1st place overall finish.
One coach asked the Woods Charter School coaches how they do this year in and year out. The answer is “our students – we have deep teams (our youngest team members are in 5th grade) and we have students who have been competing since they were in the 5th grade. Our students are intelligent, hard-working and committed, but they never take things for granted nor do they rest on their laurels. They will continue the Woods tradition of excellence for years to come.”
The Woods Charter Envirothon teams will go on to the state tournament on April 28 and 29.