L – R: Rachel Portillo; Lorraina Rojas • New Mexico Envirothon Alumni and Current Volunteer Advisors
NCF-Envirothon alumni Lorraina Rojas and Rachel Portillo know what it feels like to stand in a soaked soil pit with a stopwatch ticking. They also know the joy of finding your people and your path. Theirs came through Envirothon, North America’s largest high school environmental education competition where teams complete hands-on tests in aquatics, forestry, soils and land use and wildlife, then present solutions on a rotating current issue.
Rojas and Portillo, teammates from New Mexico, first met as high school competitors in 2016. Years later they are back, this time on the other side of the clipboard, pouring their time and talent into the students coming up behind them.
Portillo, now an instructional designer and executive producer at New Mexico State University, supports the state program by writing curriculum and helping develop Envirothon for the New Mexico Envirothon. Rojas, a graduate student working on her PhD in Natural Resources at the University of New Mexico, volunteers with her hometown team and guides students through study sessions and field practice.
“I like that students can learn from what I teach and continue to build off that,” Portillo said.
The spark was lit early. As an eighth grader a year before she could compete, Portillo sat in on practices and told the team, “I’ll be back next year.” Rojas joined after a teacher urged her to try Envirothon. “The rest is history,” she said.
Envirothon gave them more than facts to memorize. It taught them how to learn. Rojas credits the program with sharpening her study habits and helping her connect classroom concepts to real-world situations, skills that eased the jump to college-level work.
As students, Rojas and Portillo represented New Mexico at the international competition three times. They swapped stories with peers from across the U.S. and Canada, forged friendships that followed them to college and weathered the pressure of timed tests and oral presentations.
“Going through nationals together definitely is a bonding experience,” Rojas said, recalling the mix of exhilaration and stress, sprinting between forestry plots, parsing soil textures in the rain and pulling together a defensible solution before the clock ran out.
Those moments stuck. Now, as mentors, Rojas and Portillo say the view from the sidelines is just as rewarding. They have reconnected with longtime coaches and committee members and discovered a new joy: watching today’s students apply field skills in their lives outside the contest.
“There’s something really cool and powerful and reflective about coming back,” Rojas said. “Seeing the kids that were in your shoes” has reinforced her belief that the program is about more than medals.
Portillo hopes more alumni will find their way back. “Start small, it doesn’t have to be that you are rewriting curriculum,” she said. A simple email to a state coordinator, an offer to judge or a short talk about college or career paths can make a difference.
Their story mirrors a broader Envirothon trend. Students discover a sense of belonging that keeps them engaged long after their last competition and many return as volunteers, advisors and advocates. That return loop helps keep the program durable and community-driven.
It also underscores the program’s purpose. Envirothon is designed to cultivate real-world problem solvers: young people who can identify a tree by its bark, test water quality, map a watershed and defend a solution to a panel of professionals. Field tests and a high-stakes presentation build poise, research literacy and on-your-feet communication.
Rojas and Portillo say those competencies matter just as much for students who will not major in environmental science. The ability to analyze evidence, collaborate under pressure and speak clearly about complex issues serves them in any field.
That is why they are back. And it is why they invite fellow alumni to join them.
“If you’re thinking about it, reach out,” Portillo said. “It can be as simple as contacting the state representative who runs the competition.”
To get involved in your state or provincial competition, find program contacts at https://envirothon.org/about-us/us-and-canadian-programs/.