West Jefferson Hills students excel in Jr. Envirothon

The first-ever local Junior Envirothon competition, designed and organized by Dan Giger, a gifted support teacher at Thomas Jefferson HS, was held in April in South Park for elementary and middle school age students. The goal of the competition was to engage students and to help them better Pennsylvania’s ecology as well as generate awareness for the high school level Pennsylvania Envirothon state competition. Mr. Giger collaborated with the Allegheny Co. Conservation District and structured the Junior Envirothon exactly like the upper-level competition in which teams of five students compete in field testing using their knowledge of Wildlife, Aquatics, Forestry, Soil, and a current event. The Junior Envirothon included students from several districts in grades 4 through 8, with the West Jefferson elementary and middle school teams taking top honors. Out of 17 teams that competed, McClellan Elementary placed first and third in the elementary division, while PHMS took first and second place in the middle school division.