EXPLORING UNIQUE AREAS OF CENTRAL NEW YORK

This year's CNY Regional Envirothon attracted 65 teams to Beaver Lake Nature Center on April 29 and 30, 1998. These teams (5 high school students per team) competed against one another to test their knowledge of Aquatics, Forestry, Soils, Wildlife and Community Issues.

Cicero-North Syracuse High School, representing Onondaga County, won this year's Bristol Myers-Squibb CNY Regional Envirothon Award for the highest two day score. Other county winners were Cayuga County's "The Weedsport Beavers"; Chenango County's "Oxford Ag & Tech #1"; Madison County's "DeRuyter Rockets" and Wayne County's "Pal-Mac".

C-NS went on to finish fifth in the New York State Envirothon held May 27 - 28 at SUNY-Morrisville. South Seneca Central High finished fourth, and Weedsport High finished second.

New this year at the Regional Envirothon was a $100 scholarship given to each member of each of the county winners. In addition, the C-NS team received $200 for their overall First Place showing in the event. Winning teams with the highest scores in each of the categories of competition were presented with a special gift. For example, Cicero-North Syracuse scored highest in the Forestry category and received Peterson's Field Guide to Eastern Trees.

Also new was a competition to solve an environmental problem by developing a video. These short video competitions test a team's creative skills at solving environmental problems. Each member of the winning West Genesee High School team received a $50 savings bond.

The entire event is privately supported. Sponsors of the event are Ogden Martin Systems of Onondaga L.P. and the Soil & Water Conservation Districts of Cayuga, Chenango, Madison, Onondaga and Wayne Counties.