By: EMC3 Staff

What were you doing first period on May 10^th? Sitting in study hall? Taking notes in history class? Five Galway students were headed to the state park in Saratoga with their adviser to take part in the annual Envirothon competition. For the first time ever, Galway beat other competing Saratoga County schools and earned a spot at the state Envirothon competition. May 25 and 26 teams from across the state will compete at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva for top honors.

The team this year started out working with Emily Flores, high school biology teacher. Before she left for her maternity leave, she worked with seventh grade science teacher Jim Reynolds, who then took over advising this year’s Envirothon team members: Brandan Aschmutat, Emily Brown, Jessica Demarest, Paige Galloway, and Hannah Smith. The group went up against teams from Ballston Spa, Burnt Hills, Saratoga Catholic, Shenendehowa, WSWHE BOCES, and schools from Fulton County as well. Teams take 25 question quizzes on topics such as current issues, wildlife, aquatics, forestry, and they have to do an oral presentation.

Preparing for the Envirothon takes a lot of time. “We get information a month or two ahead of time,” sophomore Hannah Smith explained. “The oral presentation requires the most preparation.” Sophomore Jessica Demarest added, “It took us hours to prepare.”

Most Galway students are involved in many different activities, so participating in a competition like this can be challenging. “We tried to get together as much as we could after school. We used Google Docs too—to share information and research to work out what we’d say (for the oral presentation). We did mock presentations for science teachers and other teachers. We did that twice,” Smith said.

Some of the teams Galway faced on Tuesday are from large districts that had multiple teams. Junior Brandan Aschmutat said, “Yeah it was kind of intimidating. They are bigger schools with more funding. Some of them even had jackets and they looked all professional and everything, but when it came down to it, we came out on top.” Demarest agreed, “They have special meetings and study groups and they study a lot.” Smith added, “We are a small school, and we are all involved in a lot of things. Spring is always so crazy so it’s hard to get everyone in one place.” However, Mr. Reynolds had another view, “School size should not be an issue.  I have no problem with our students taking on big schools because we have some of the greatest programs that will compete with other schools no matter how big or small.”

Not only did the team spend a great day outside in the park, they also won. “I was honestly shocked,” remembers Smith. “We studied individually a little bit. We weren’t experts and we weren’t as prepared as we would have liked to be. We definitely weren’t expecting it.” Demarest said, “I was shocked because it was so unexpected. We hadn’t even thought about going to states. It hadn’t even crossed our mind.” Aschmutat added, “They called our name and we just stared at them for a minute. Mr. Reynolds was freaking out.”  Mr. Reynolds shared, “When they won I was in shock.  We did well in a couple of events but what I was most proud about was that we were the most consistent team and we did well in all areas.  Galway was the true renaissance team.”

So what’s it like to be the first Galway team to go to the state Envirothon competition? “I don’t think Galway has ever gone before. This is a monumental thing—we’re hoping we can all go,” Smith said. Aschmutat commented, “I’m excited but I’m nervous since there’s a team that has won the last 8 years in a row. I definitely hope we can go. It would be an experience.” Mr. Reynolds added, “Currently I am working on the arrangements for the state competition to make sure that we will be able to go.”

High school principal Mr. Bednarek insists that they will find a way for the group to go, and he added, “I am so proud of our group of students who committed to the project.  I am very thankful to Mr. Reynolds for taking them to the competition while Mrs. Flores is on maternity leave, and I am very happy for Mrs. Flores who has put her heart and soul into this program with a number of students for the last few years. We have had guests come in from the community in recent years to help prepare our team and they have worked hard to get ready for this competition.  Their hard work and diligence is a great example of how successful our students and faculty are with authentic assignments that allow them to tackle the most complex problems of our day.  This also reflects the high value our faculty and school community places on environmental science and clean energy.  Our students and teachers are building an impressive record in this area when you consider everything from Envirothon victories (over schools many times larger) to biodiesel vehicles and greenhouses equipped with Smart Technology.  This is the cutting edge of college and career readiness!”