Each year the District sponsors poster, essay and public speaking contests in cooperation with local schools. The contest is an important tool to encourage young people to think about conservation. The contest educates our youth on conserving natural resources. The poster contest is open to 5th grade students and has a conservation theme that changes yearly. Average participation is approximately 125 entries. The essay contest is open to 6th grade students and it also has a conservation theme that changes yearly. The public speaking contest is opened to 7th and 8th grade students.

Each school will have a first place winner in the poster and essay category. The winners from each school will be combined and the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners will be selected for each category. The first place winner from each category will be sent to the Area III Competition. Our area consist of eleven counties. The first place winner from the Area competition will compete at the state level competition.

Envirothon

The District provides training materials to and sponsors teams from local middle and high schools to Regional or State Envirothon competitions yearly. Lee Soil and Water sponsored three teams to participate this year.  The Envirothon consists of five testing stations—forestry, aquatics, wildlife, soils and current environmental issues- where teams are tested on knowledge of subject. The State winner is eligible to compete in National Contest. The Envirothon is sponsored nationally by Canon. For more information on the local Envirothon competition, please visit our Envirothon website.

Resource Conservation Workshop (RCW)

Each year up to three high school students are sponsored by the Lee District to attend the Resource Conservation Workshop held on the N.C. State University Campus. This week long workshop exposes young people to various natural resource fields and includes field trips. Students are eligible to win various scholarships based on test scores at close of the workshop.

Enviroscape

"EnviroScape" is a 'hands on' model designed to communicate the basic facts about groundwater and the connection between land activities and groundwater. The Enviroscape can be adapted to teach kindergartners as well as adults. Students are asked to think about where our water comes from, point and no-point sources of pollution are explained and better ways to protect our environment. It normally takes about 30 minutes to demonstrate.