Students from Blue Mountain School District swept all competitions at the 2025 Envirothon.
On Friday, May 2, 2025, 38 teams of school students from around Schuylkill County met at the Schuylkill County Fairgrounds and Environmental Education Center in Summit Station to test their environmental knowledge in the 41st Annual Schuylkill County Envirothon.
Envirothon is coordinated by the Schuylkill Conservation District and tests teams about their knowledge of the environment and is designed to increase their awareness of interrelationships that exists in the world.
“We thank our generous sponsor–the Schuylkill County Municipal Authority—for their continued support of the Schuylkill County Envirothon. Water quality and water conservation are issues that are of prime importance for both the authority and the conservation district, says “Porcupine Pat” McKinney, Environmental Education Coordinator for the Conservation District.
The competition also increases awareness of the effects of human actions on those relationships.
“The event is made possible through the cooperative efforts of many Schuylkill County conservation agencies,” McKinney says.
Local representatives of the PA Game Commission, PA Fish and Boat Commission, DCNR-Bureau of Forestry, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Chesapeake Bay Program, Department of Environmental Protection, and the Schuylkill Conservation District provided technical assistance.
Envirothon revolves around five environmental subject areas of aquatics, forestry, soils, wildlife and a current environmental issue.
The 2025 current issue focused on “Roots and Resiliency: Fostering Forest Stewardship in a Canopy of Change.”
Three tiers of competition are held for different grade levels:
- “Snoops” are teams in elementary grades
- “Investigators” are middle school students
- “Scientists” are high school students
The winner of the “Scientists” category will represent Schuylkill County at the state competition to be held later in May. The state winner then travels to national competition later this summer.
The following school districts participated: Blue Mountain, Saint Clair Area, Assumption BVM, Pottsville Area, Pine Grove Area, Gillingham Charter School, Minersville Area, Nativity BVM, North Schuylkill, St. Nicholas, Tamaqua Area, Tri-Valley, and Williams Valley.
A proclamation from the Schuylkill County Commissioners was read in recognition of National Drinking Water Week.
The winners of the 2025 Envirothon are as follows:
Scientists (Grades 9–12)
- 1st: Blue Mountain High School – “Team One”
- 2nd: Pine Grove Area High School – “Heavenly Hellbenders”
- 3rd: Blue Mountain High School – “Team Two”
- 4th: Pine Grove Area High School – “Drippy Otters”
- 5th: Nativity BVM – “Leafy Legends”
Investigators (Grades 6–8)
- 1st: Blue Mountain Middle School – “Grizzly Guardians”
- 2nd: Pine Grove Area Middle School – “Brilliant Bobwhites”
- 3rd: Blue Mountain Middle School – “Dizzy Dingoes”
- 4th: Pine Grove Middle School – “Feisty Fishers”
- 5th: North Schuylkill Elementary – “Cardinals”
Snoops (Grades 4–5)
- 1st: Blue Mountain East – “Eastern Eagles”
- 2nd: Pine Grove Elementary – “Winning Warblers”
- 3rd: Minersville Elementary – “Battlin’ Bobcats”
- 4th: Blue Mountain West – “West Side Critters”
- 5th (Tie): Assumption BVM – “Brave Bears” and North Schuylkill – “Planet Protectors”
Submitted photos/adapted from a press release
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