Spruce Mountain High School Envirothon teams took first and third places at the Maine Envirothon State Championships at the University of Maine, Orono, on May 31.

Two students took home $2,000 scholarships. Three teams from Spruce Mountain, which has campuses in Livermore Falls and Jay, qualified to compete at the state finals.

Team members from the Livermore Falls campus were Shaunna Damboise, Ian Jewett, Caleb Berry and Sam Brenner. Damboise won a $2,000 scholarship to the University of Maine College of Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture, where she will major in wildlife ecology. She hopes to be a game warden.

Adviser Gladys Russell said she was pleased with her team’s impressive score of 42/50 in current issue, placing them in second place in that event. Ian Jewett headed up the speech writing.

The Honey Badgers team of Tyler Ritter, Lucas Preble, Alyssa Timberlake, Erik Taylor and Emily Taylor won first place in aquatics with a score of 92/100 and ended up in third place overall.

“It is great to see a young team do so well and they put in a great deal of effort,” team adviser Rob Taylor said. “The future of Envirothon at Spruce Mountain High School looks very bright!”

The team also scored well in forestry. Its current issue presentation examined possible low-impact development strategies that could be implemented at the Otis Ventures complex in Jay.

The Pig Pots team included Jacob Roy, Kristy Macomber, Alexi Deering, Sam Hutchinson and Isaac Couture. Hutchinson won a $2,000 scholarship to the University of Maine’s College of Engineering, where she will major in environmental and civil engineering.

The team won its third consecutive state championship, making it four championships in a row for Jay High School/Spruce Mountain High School. The team also won first place in forestry, with a score of 84/92 and soils with a score of 90/100.

It’s current issue presentation examined how low-impact development could be used to protect water in the town’s drinking water source, Moose Hill Pond, in Livermore Falls.

“The team has been extremely dedicated to learning about the environment,” Taylor said. “They have learned through community service, testing water for the Livermore Falls Water District and working to improve the Jay Recreation Area. They have taught natural resources conservation at Scouting events. I am very proud of their achievements.”

The team earned the right to represent Maine at the Canon International Envirothon at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pa., July 22–27.

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