Avalon Triumvirate Academy News

Avalon Triumvirate Academy Sends First Envirothon Team
MONTPELIER, May 14, 2013– The smallest school to participate in the Vermont Envirothon competition ever was the Avalon Triumvirate Academy located in Fairfax. This school fielded a team of five students and one alternate, and they have a grand total of eight high school students. This group competed with some of the largest high schools in the state, including Bellow Falls Union High School, South Burlington High School and People’s Academy.

These dedicated students spent the school year preparing for hands on practical exams in four natural resources areas: Forestry, Soils, Wildlife and Aquatics. They also researched a current environmental hot topic in their community, sustainable grassland management, and presented their research findings on the topic to a panel of judges as part of the event. Their project involved looking at local farms in their communities and learning how the farmer manages fields and makes decisions about the use of the land.

This whole project was spearheaded by the Avalon Triumvirate Academy Science teacher, Lisa Fredette. Ms. Fredette was on the winning Envirothon team in 2006 when she was a senior at Mill River Union High School. The Envirothon preparation was part of the Advanced Placement Environmental Science curriculum at Mill River, and Ms. Fredette had wonderful memories of working with her peers to prepare for the event. These memories stuck with her, and when she became inspired to become a teacher during her senior year at UVM, she knew she would love to coach an Envirothon team.

Ms. Fredette found that opportunity when she started teaching at Avalon Triumvirate Academy last fall. Avalon Triumvirate Academy is a small private school catering to the learning needs of students from diverse backgrounds, they promote within each student academic achievement, physical health, and a strong sense of self. This school with eight high school students placed eighth out of seventeen teams. The winning team, Bellows Falls Academy, will go on to the North American Envirothon competition in Bozeman, Montana in early August.