Environmental Education Class Competes in Eco-Meet

Photo by Haley Bell

A group of four girls competed in the Kansas Eco-Meet at the Ernie Miller Nature Center on Wednesday, Oct. 26. The group of four seniors surpassed their goal and placed fifth out of the 22 teams in the competition. This group of girls –Maddie Gay, Maggie Agee, Sarah Milgrim and Jenna Swan – are a part of East’s Environmental Education program.

This semester, the group focused on identifying grasses at the Ernie Miller Nature Center and working on powerpoints to prepare for the Eco-Meet, their biggest challenge of the year.

The Kansas Eco-Meet is a competition between 22 schools that focuses on the knowledge of Kansas wildlife and plants. From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., the girls performed several tasks consisting of habitat tests, focus tests, a scavenger hunt and an interpretation skit.

“We were really nervous going in since we only have one team and other schools have several,” senior Maggie Agee said. “But we were hopeful.”

Although they knew [Shawnee Mission] South was going to win, they were thrilled by how well they placed overall.

After focusing on the Eco-Meet for the majority of first semester, the independent study group will start taking care of the animals, rearranging their cages and beginning to organize the first and second grade tours for second semester.