For two straight years, Oxford High School has represented the sate of Mississippi in the North American Envirothon competition. A year ago, students Andrew Brown, Kayla Owens, Joanna Bu, Raina Woolworth and Calendula Cheng traveled to Springfield, Missouri, to compete against schools from the United States and Canada. This weekend, the same group of students will be in Peterborough, Ontario for the North American competition.

In May, OHS reclaimed their state crown defeating 17 other Mississippi teams to advance to the national competition. Now they will face 51 other teams from Canada and the U.S. from July 24-29 at Trent University.

This year, the competition will focus on the theme of invasive species, an issue that is one of the greatest threats to biodiversity in the Canada and the U.S.

Every year more than 60,000 students, teachers and volunteers take part in this program, venturing to natural areas to work together and alongside mentors to address local environmental challenges by applying skills in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.