By Quinn O’Hara

Picture Credit: Wakefield School USD 379 FB Page

Wakefield High School students Draven Avila, Emily Huehl, Tess Isaac, and Presely Keeler, recently competed in the Kansas Eco Meet at the state level. 

Josh Kiem, the natural resources teacher at Wakefield High, is the leader of Wakefield’s Eco Meet team. He was a participant of the program in high school as well, managing to make it to the national competition in New Brunswick, Canada with his team in 2011.

This year’s Kansas State Eco Meet took place at Camp Aldrich, near Great Bend, Kansas. The students tested their knowledge of Kansas plants, animals, and ecosystems in four events:

The students competed for a ticket to the national competition as well as college scholarships. This year Kiem took five teams to the regionals and only the aforementioned four were able to secure their chance to compete at state. The same four students also won a ticket to state in last year’s event as freshmen.

Kiem says he’s excited for the future of the ECO Meet at Wakefield, despite recent difficulties:

For now, Kiem and his students are already hard at work preparing for next year’s meet.