Envirothon Club takes trip to Cook Forest

On Thursday, September 8th, Cranberry students involved with Envirothon took a canoe trip down the Clarion River.

Envirothon is a club and class Cranberry offers, focusing on the education of environmental sciences and natural resources. At the end of the year, students taking the class compete in a competition that tests their knowledge on 5 categories- forestry, soil, aquatics, special topic, and birds. Led by Lauri Piercy, biology teacher and advisor of the club, students who participated in Envirothon were qualified to go on a field trip to Cook Forest. Other teachers on the trip included Dustin Wenner, science teacher, as well as Julianna McKissick, chemistry teacher, and Chad Clark, shop teacher.

During the span of the day, they canoed 4 miles down the river, making a couple stops to hike up streams and eventually get in the water.

The goal of the trip was to introduce identifying trees, salamanders, and studying the water quality of streams. Within this, students interested in the environment had the ability to observe nature up close and hands-on, and also obtain a better understanding and knowledge about the identification of different types of freshwater creatures. 

This field trip serves as a stepping stone for building skills for the students, with the future goal of doing well at the Envirothon competition.

In addition, students enjoy this field trip greatly. When asked about his favorite part of the trip, sophomore Dane Wenner said,”I really enjoyed learning about nature.”

Also, Ellabay Perry, a senior at Cranberry, said that she “learned that crayfish can be red in the molten phase, which makes them super soft and squishy.”