Middle School students compete in a Young Environmental Stewards Competition in 2018. NPCC will host this year’s competition on March 10.
NORTH PLATTE, Neb.-North Platte Community College will be the site of a Young Environmental Stewards Competition next week.
Approximately 24 middle school students from Valentine and Sidney will test their knowledge and skills in the contest, which is similar to a quiz bowl with a focus on environmental issues.
“The purpose of it is to get kids back outside, into nature and onto the land,” said Quentin Wagner, founder of YES.
Wagner created YES for a capstone project at Chadron State College in 2018. As part of the project, he had to research a global issue of concern, nature-deficit disorder, and determine what age group could have the most impact on the issue.
The nature-deficit disorder is the idea that people, especially children, are spending less time outside and are subsequently developing behavior problems. Wagner decided to address the problem by getting middle school students interested in conserving the environment.
“In high school, there are more opportunities to compete in Envirothon and in public speaking,” Wagner said. “There’s not a lot for the middle school age group. YES is a good way to prime those students for upper-level competitions.”
His YES programming is the result of a collaboration with the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Upper Niobrara White Natural Resource District.
The YES competition at NPCC will be the second of its kind. CSC hosted a mock competition in 2018, and last year, an actual competition was organized through the South Platte NRD.
“Our hope is that it will continue to grow,” Wagner said. “We want kids to know there is more to ranching than just owning cattle and more to farming than throwing seed on the ground. Our producers also have to be stewards of the land.”
There are two segments to the competition – a quiz portion, which is closed to the public, and a main challenge, which is open to the public.
“The students will have to try to build water control structures on soil to control erosion,” Wagner said. “The challenge will be done in teams, so some of the points they get will be based on teamwork.”
The quiz portion will test the students’ knowledge of Nebraska plant species. Among other things, the students will have to identify the kind and parts of various grasses.
Additionally, organizations, including representatives from the NRD, NRCS, Ag Valley Co-op and Halsey National Forest, will be on site to talk to students about careers in their fields.
The competition will begin at 10 a.m. March 10 in the McDonald-Belton Building on NPCC’s south campus, 601 W. State Farm Rd. There is no cost to watch it.