UNITY — The Spruce Mountain High School Envirothon teams took top honors at the Midcoast Regional Envirothon held at Unity College on May 15. Spruce Mountain fielded three teams, two of which qualified for the State Envirothon Finals at Thomas College on Friday, May 29, by finishing first and second.

Envirothon is the nation’s largest environmental science competition and includes tests in Forestry, Aquatic Ecology, Wildlife Biology and Soil Science. Teams also do a prepared presentation on the current issue, which is Urban and Community Forestry.

Spruce Mountain Team 2 consisted of Sebastian Lombardi, Spencer Brennick, Ben Nichols, Alexa Perkins, Brandon Anctil and alternate James Herlihy. The team developed its current issue presentation on improving the aesthetics of the Jay Plaza through tree planting, and team members Sebastian Lombardi, Spencer Brennick and Ben Nichols took a three-credit online class through the University of Maine Academ-e program this spring.

Successfully completing the Academ-e program in Urban and Community Forestry allowed the students to receive college and elective high school credit and helped prepare them for the Envirothon.

Spruce Mountain Team 3 consisted of Camryn Berry, Austin Gilboe, William Brenner, Jordan Daigle and Bryan Riley. The team took first place overall in the forestry competition, second in aquatics, third in current issue and wildlife, and sixth in soils, leaving them in second place overall at the event, with a total score of 365.91 out of 500. The average score for all teams at the event was a 275/500.

The team’s current issue project examined improving the RSU 73 campuses through managing and caring for trees around the schools.

Spruce Mountain Team 1 consists of seniors Sam Brenner, Denton Bilodeau and Tyler Ritter, as well as juniors Amber Delaney and Liesel Krout and senior alternate Abbie Hartford. The team took first in soils, aquatics and wildlife, as well as second in current issue and forestry, earning them the regional championship.

Liesel Krout, Amber Delaney, Denton Bilodeau and Tyler Ritter also took the Academ-e class on Urban and Community Forestry for dual high school and college credit and as a way to help prepare.

The team’s project on implementing a Community Forestry Initiative in Livermore Falls received high marks from the judges. The team scored 415.22/500 total points and answered over 83 percent of the questions correctly.

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