Oxford High School recently participated in the 2025 NCF-Envirothon at the Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta in Canada. NCF-Envirothon is North America’s largest high school environmental education competition.
The competition team consisted of five students and OHS teacher Deborah Jones. OHS alumna Alex Ritchie participated in the Envirothon event all four years of high school.
“It was an amazing trip,” Ritchie said. “I knew that I wanted to go into an environmental career, but participating in Envirothon solidified this decision for me. I am now pursuing an environmental engineering degree where I want to specialize in improving water quality, something that was inspired, in part, by Envirothon.”
Ritchie was the captain of the Envirothon team her senior year. She, along with other teammates, prepared to be tested on their knowledge of the five environmental events that Envirothon focuses on: aquatics, forestry, a current issue, wildlife and soils. In preparation for the competition, the members studied and met with professionals for each topic.
“Our team would set up meetings with local experts that would give us a well-rounded understanding of the five topics that are tested in Envirothon,” Ritchie said. “There is also an annual training that is put on by Mississippi Envirothon that we attend.”
Around 60% of Alberta is covered by forests. The surrounding forest inspired the Calgary area to be selected as the temporary host of Envirothon this year. The 2025 current issue topic, “Roots and Resiliency: Fostering Forest Stewardship in a Canopy of Change,” was chosen to represent the environmental challenges relevant to the Alberta region.
“The opportunity to travel is incredible,” Jones said. “I think it is really great in giving students an opportunity to get out. The students also get to see different environments because if you are going to Canada, it is very environmentally different than it is here.”
The students split up into the different environmental events that Envirothon focuses on, competing in that specific group throughout the competition. Each student individually prepares for their event in addition to the group getting instruction from local experts.
“I think it teaches students a lot,” Jones said. “They have to learn how to work together as a team. There is a lot of good collaboration work. There is a lot of independent work where each student is studying their own specialty. It connects them back into their environment because they are doing things that are working outside and really getting their hands dirty in the soil and testing water samples.”
By studying real world issues, the participants gain experiences that can inspire future careers related to environmental science and conservation. Envirothon gives students the opportunity to apply their knowledge outside of the classroom in professional settings. Junior Sasha McGinness traveled with OHS for this year’s competition, expanding her knowledge about the environment even further.
“I have always been really interested in the environment,” McGinness said. “I want to do something with the environment or environmental law, and I have a really deep caring for it. A lot of my friends just love Envirothon, so I was really compelled to join at that point. I have loved it since.”
Envirothon continues to inspire students to bring their knowledge home to their schools and communities. Many participants leave with deeper knowledge and understanding of these topics. By sharing what they have learned, these students can help spread awareness about environmental issues while reinforcing what they have learned.
“You cannot just go into Envirothon and not like the environment,” McGinness said. “Joining it makes me really want to be able to preserve what we have because we do not have this Earth for long. We have a carbon clock and it is running out. Just realizing this by doing Envirothon and realizing the impacts of climate change on our environment are so profound that we do not even understand them makes me feel really called to take action.”
