North Harford High School’s Envirothon team placed second overall at the National Conservation Foundation’s Envirothon international competition in Alberta, Canada, in late July.

North Harford finished with a score of 619.67, just 1 point behind the winning team from Lexington High School in Massachusetts.

The second-place standing is one of many accomplishments the team had this season. It won the state competition for the third consecutive year and took the Harford County competition.

The team had four seniors, Frank DeLucia, Jacob Jestel, Jonathan VanBuskirk and Ryan Layman, and a junior, Samantha Hawk.

“These students studied their hearts out and achieved an amazing accomplishment in an incredibly competitive, high-level international event,” team adviser and North Harford teacher Laura O’Leary said in a news release. “To finish just 1 point behind first place speaks volumes about their dedication, teamwork and depth of knowledge.”

Team members said they felt a wave of emotions when their placement was announced, some thinking back to which questions they might’ve missed. Overall, they were proud of how far they’d come and knew they tried their best.

“It’s a natural reaction for all of us to think about the things that we could have done better,” said Jonathan, who competed in Envirothon for three years. “As time went on, especially after we left Canada, it kind of just hit as how cool all of that was.”

The second-overall placement earned the team a $10,000 scholarship that’s split among all members. The team was also recognized as the station winner in aquatic ecology, winning it an additional $1,500 scholarship.

The top three teams were tasked with delivering an oral presentation to a panel of judges on forest health and sustainability specific to Alberta. They were given six hours to create it and outline a forest management plan equipped with ways to cut costs and improve efficiency while increasing biodiversity and sustainability, according to Jacob, who participated on the team all four years of high school.

On top of that, they had to keep in mind stakeholders, such as the forestry industry and indigenous people who the changes may impact.

At every competition, there are written and application questions about five topics: aquatics, soils, wildlife, forestry and a wild card that changes each year. This year’s wild card was Roots and Resiliency: Fostering Forest Stewardship in a Canopy of Change.

To break up the workload, each member had one or two areas of expertise. Ryan handled forestry, Frank and Samantha did wildlife, Jacob was on aquatics, and Jonathan was on soils.

In preparation for each competition, the team met every Friday to go over study materials, quiz one another and take nature walks. Individually, each member read 100-plus-page documents to enhance their understanding of topics, said Ryan, who was on the team for three years. The meetings not only gave them time to improve their knowledge, but also build a deeper connection with one another.

This fall, Ryan, Jonathan, Jacob and Frank will attend the University of Maryland, College Park. Envirothon, they say, taught them how to prepare for rigorous coursework, become comfortable giving oral presentations, and work on a team.

“You need public speaking, no matter what you do. You’re going to have to get up and talk to people at some point,” Ryan said. “So, being able to get that and build that up from a younger age … it’s really helpful to do that early on in an almost no-pressure scenario.”

Jacob said skills he learned from Envirothon will stay with him for a long time.

“It also gives me a greater consideration for the environment,” he said.

Frank, who participated in Envirothon all four years of high school, said the international competition’s study material was at a collegiate level, and assisted him with figuring out proper study plans to gain a wider comprehension of the material.

“It’s good to kind of get a head start seeing what those are like, and how when I’m studying for classes in college, how I need to tackle that, synthesize that information and go beyond just memorizing things, but actually understanding things,” he said.

Samantha is the only member from the team who plans to return next year. She’s been competing since her freshman year and is excited to come back as a senior and pass on knowledge to new teammates.

“I think we can have a really good team again,” she said. “It’s a little bit of pressure, but I’m excited to step up to the task and hopefully have another good year with Envirothon.”

Have a news tip? Contact Shaela Foster at sfoster@baltsun.com or 443-826-5894.