MATES Students, One From Brick, Headed for National Environmental Competition

For the second year running, students from Stafford’s Marine Academy of Technology and Environmental Sciences will represent New Jersey at an environmental competition that draws students from across the continent.

James Geddis of Jackson, Alex Hascha of Brick, Kelsey Lardiere of Manahawkin, Michelle Predi of Barnegat Light and Ryan Sullivan of Lacey led MATES to a second victory in as many years at the New Jersey Envirothon, an annual competition where students answer questions testing their knowledge in forestry, soils, aquatics, wildlife management and current environmental issues. Now they’ve got their eye on a top ranking at the Canon Envirothon, which takes place in New Brunswick, Canada later this summer.

The Canon Envirothon is the largest environmental education competition in North America. Hundreds of thousands of students from the U.S. and Canada participate each year in competitions in their respective states and provinces, with one winning team from each moving on to a national-level competition that pits students from all corners of the continent against each other in a battle of science skills and knowledge.

The MATES students worked all year to prep for the chance to hold onto their state title and get another shot at nationals, said advisor Adam Sprague, a teacher at the academy.

The breadth of knowledge the students have to master and retain to succeed is vast, Sprague said. The competition requires them to do everything from identifying trees by species and calculating the board feet they could supply to hopping down in a pit to classify layers of soil.

Even the returning champions needed to study up. “It’s a matter of keeping them on edge and challenging them to push themselves,” Sprague said.

Two MATES teams traveled to Mahwah’s Camp Glen Gray for the May 7 event, said Sprague, camping out and spending a full, tense day taking written and field tests and offering presentations on this year’s current events topic, freshwater estuaries – a lucky draw for students from a marine sciences school.

In 2010, spurred by a very close second-place finish the year before, the school’s older and more experienced team won the state competition by a big margin. This time around was another story.

“We didn’t win any sections like we usually do,” said Lacey senior Ryan Sullivan, 17, a three-year Envirothon veteran. Normally, MATES' more experienced team swept a few categories, he said. This year, they were strong across the board, but didn’t shine in any particular section of study.

As it turned out, the well-rounded approach was to their advantage, but there was some uncertainty before officials read out the scores and announced them the winners, said Sprague.

“They were confident all year,” he said. “That was the first time I saw doubt in their faces."

For the hard-earned win, each of the MATES team members received $1,000 scholarships from the New Jersey Association of Conservation Districts, $2,000 scholarships from Richard Stockton State College and $1,000 scholarships from Applied and Health Sciences at Kean University, said Lynn Richmond, spokeswoman for the New Jersey Department of Agriculture. A division of the department sponsors the event.

Now, said Sullivan, the focus is on making a strong showing at the national competition, which takes place July 24 to 29 at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick, Canada.

At nationals last year, he said, “we were really like a small fish in a big pond. We didn’t know what we were getting into, and it showed in our test scores. Hopefully we’ll better prepare ourselves and improve this year.”

That means brushing up on the species and the ecology of Canada’s Maritimes, said Sullivan. But preparing for the competition is hardly a chore, he said. He and the others care a lot about the subjects they’re studying, and some plan to use thei knowledge they’ve gained in future careers. Sullivan, who excels at aquatics, wants to go into hydrogeology in college.

And when the science-minded students are studying and competing, they’re truly among their peers.

At the competition, said Sullivan, “there are familiar faces everywhere. They’re people that share the same interests. People who really care.”