Special to the Reporter

Oak Mountain High School recently won its fourth straight environmental competition and was named overall state champions.

The school participated in the Alabama Envirothon State Competition held April 6-8 at the 4-H Center in Columbiana.

According to Kim Joiner of the Shelby County Soil and Water Conservation District, in addition to being named Overall State Champions, Oak Mountain placed first in aquatics, current issue, soils and tied for first place in forestry with team test scores in the individual events.

Team members included Ben Burch, Drew Bonner, Meredith Cloyd, Sarah Teague, and Ray Tichenor.

The team&8217;s advisors were Tim Evans and Jennie Gandy. And Envirothon State Competition sponsors included: Legacy, Inc., RC&D Councils, Soil and Conservation Districts, Alabama Department of Environmental Management and Canon, Inc.

Oak Mountain Teams received funding from the OMHS PTO – Academic Partners.

The team will travel to Canon North American Envirothon where they will compete against State and Providence winners from across the United States and Canada.

The event will be held on the Campus of the University of Manitoba July 23 – 29 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

A second team from Oak Mountain placed second in overall competition. The team including Michael Dewar, Emily Haines, Katie Hardin, Alex Lusco and Tony Sullivan also placed first in wildlife and tied for first place in forestry with team test scores in the individual events.

This completed an Oak Mountain sweep of individual team events.

Envirothon educates students in current real-life environmental issues, incorporating concerns for soils, aquatics, wildlife, forestry and this year&8217;s current issue – water stewardship in a changing climate. It combines in-class curriculum with hands-on field experiences that enhance a student&8217;s critical thinking and problem solving skills.

This is the first year that Oak Mountain has sent two teams to state competition and the fourth consecutive year that the school as the representative of Shelby County has won the State Title