A group of five Marshalltown High School students takes learning about the environment seriously throughout the year and not just on Earth Day.
The MHS team won the state title last weekend as part of the Iowa Envirothon.
The envirothon included 14 Iowa teams which had students testing their knowledge on aquatic ecology, forestry, soils and wildlife at Springbrook State Park in Guthrie Center.
Team members are Alex Cope, Molly Finn, James Lindgren, Matt Paar and Claire Runquist. Susan Fritzell, an MHS teacher and advisor for the team, credited her students' dedication the past few months to the team's win.
"I think our team is very consistent," Fritzell said. "I have five students who will always commit to being here."
The MHS team won two of the five individual categories including forestry and wildlife.
Lindgren said it was an exciting moment for the team when it was announced they were state champions.
"We all jumped up when we heard it," he said.
Finn said the team thought they did well but they weren't sure if they won until the announcement.
"We felt confident that we did decent but we thought it would be close," Finn said.
The Marshalltown team advances to the Canon Envirothon national competition held at California State University in Fresno in early August.
The trip is partially paid for by the envirothon so the team will do fundraising to make up the rest of the money. Winning the state envirothon title has become a tradition for MHS as the school has now won its fifth in the last eight years.
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Contact Andrew Potter at 641-753-6611 or apotter@timesrepublican.com
