Star Journal Report

The Oneida County Land and Water Conservation Department hosted its annual Conservation and Environmental Awareness Speaking and Poster Contest at the Oneida County Courthouse in Rhinelander last month. The poster contest reaches out to area youth, kindergarten through grade 12, to create messages about conservation and environmental awareness. This year’s poster contest theme was “Life in the Soil: Dig Deeper.” More than 100 posters were received.

Winners in the middle division:
1. Sophia Parish, sixth grade, James Williams Middle School (JWMS)
2. Jozlyn Bills fourth grade, Sugar Camp Elementary
3. Ava Lukes, sixth grade, JWMS

Winners in the junior division:
1. Clarissa WIlberding, seventh grade, JWMS
2. Morgan Snyder, seventh grade, JWMS
3. Kylie Kjos, seventh grade, JWMS

Area contest winners were Clarissa Wilberding, second place and Sophia Parish, third place.

Twenty-six other posters in the middle and junior divisions received honorable mentions. Winning posters and a slide show of the speakers is located on the land and water conservation department website, www.oclw.org.

The Conservation and Environmental Awareness Speaking Contest is open to students in grades five through twelve.

Winners and their speech titles in the elementary division:
1. Melanie Stauffer, “My Life as an Emerald Ash Borer.”
2. Kaylee Cornelius, “The Aquatic Fugitive.”
3. Eli Erickson, “The Purple Loosestrife.”

Melanie earned first place in the area competition and will present her speech at the state competition March 13.