On April 27, Envirothon clubs from high schools across Lancaster County sent teams of students to participate in the annual Envirothon competition at Lancaster County Central Park. Students competed in five categories: forestry, soils, aquatics, wildlife and current issues. One of Solanco High School's teams, The Lorax, earned first place in the wildlife category. The Lorax comprised students Nolan Lewis, Alex Westwood, Brayden Swope, Caleb Cutler and Nicholas Mohler.

Each category required students to complete different activities during the competition. In the forestry category, students had to identify certain types of trees. For soils, participants classified different types of soil by their characteristics. In the wildlife category, students identified bird calls, animal tracks and pelts. Similar to the wildlife category, the aquatics station required students to point out various sea creatures. In the current events category, students needed to display knowledge about a specific topic, which changes each year. This year, the topic was climate change.

The Envirothon teams started preparing for the competition at the beginning of the school year, meeting once or twice a week during students' study period. Five months prior to the competition, students received a list of resources to help them prepare for the specific challenges that were issued for this year's event. Each member of the team was tasked with researching one of the categories, although the members of the club assisted each other with research. "We combined the identification stuff for wildlife and aquatics and tested each other every club period," said Westwood, who mainly researched the wildlife category. "Eventually it was ingrained in our brains."

Cutler was assigned the current issues category, which requires students to employ deductive reasoning and logic to answer questions on the topic. This year, contestants needed to identify the human causes of climate change, recognize which countries have played a large role in environmental issues and classify certain types of greenhouse gases. "It's harder to study for than the other categories. You just have to be prepared to answer the questions once you get there," Cutler said.

Both Cutler and Westwood joined Envirothon club last year, after many of the previous members graduated. They were invited to join by club co-adviser, Jessica Tipping, who teaches chemistry at Solanco High School. Tipping runs the Envirothon club with her co-adviser, Stephanie Jones, who teaches earth and space science at the school. "Our teams scored high in a lot of categories, but the students excelled in the wildlife category," Tipping said. "We were able to get a lot of the questions that other teams missed."

As members of the Envirothon club, students are able to get hands-on experience with different aspects of environmental science. Cutler and Westwood, who are both seniorsl, plan to apply what they've learned from the club in their careers after high school. Cutler plans to pursue a degree in the medical field, and Westwood hopes to study wildlife biology. "I would encourage other kids to join the club," Cutler said. "It gave me a great background, and it was a fun way to ground myself further in environmental science."