Bowdoin opened its campus to high school environmentalists in May when it hosted the 2013 Maine Envirothon for ten schools from around the state. Piscataquis High School came in first, qualifying the team for the national competition in Bozeman, Mont.

The North American Envirothon is a competition for high school students that’s designed to boost young people’s engagement with and knowledge of natural resources and current environmental issues.

Bowdoin’s Environmental Studies Program hosted the event to connect with high school students interested in the environment, according to E.S. Program Manager Eileen Johnson. John Lichter, Bowdoin’s Samuel S. Butcher Associate Professor in the Natural Sciences, gave a brief welcome and introduction to the program. “Solutions to our problems today will require more than scientific understanding,” Lichter advised the students. “The real problem is how to get institutions to respond and act.”

The Envirothon, run by a nonprofit in Texas, has teams of between three and five students first competing at a regional level, followed by the top four teams from each region competing in state finals. The teams answer questions and solve problems in five areas: wildlife, water/aquatics, forestry, soils and current events.