Not many teenagers would give up their entire summer to study groundwater. But I know 270 pretty great ones who did.

     The Canon Envirothon is one of North America's largest academic environmental competitions. 500,000 students across the continent participate in the competition yearly.      The competition consists of five field station tests in the categories of soils and land use, aquatic ecosystems, wildlife, forestry, and the current issue which changes with each year. This year's current issue was the protection of groundwater through urban, agricultural, and environmental planning.

     The competition also consists of an oral presentation which is presented to a panel of professionals in various scientific fields. Scores from all 5 field tests and a preliminary oral presentation are calculated to determine the top 5 teams. The top teams then redo their presentations for the entire group to determine the winner.

     Each state or province holds regional and state competitions to decide which team will represent them at the North American competition.

     Due to unusual circumstances, my team began training in February, giving us only two months to prepare for state competition. That meant meeting or going on a study trip everyday of the week to get ready to compete. Our hard work paid off when we won the 2010 California Envirothon.

     Soon after state competition, training for the international competition began. In just four short months we would be competing against the best and brightest from across the continent. We really had to step our game up. Normal practice and trips resumed until the school year was over, but practice did not end when summer began. It seemed as if school had never ended, having practice from 8-2 had the illusion of a normal school day.

     Although reading and studying were our first priorities, fun was also towards the top of our list. Our advisors always say that we learn better through doing and seeing than just reading, and they gave us many opportunities to do hands-on learning. Just some of our experiences included visiting Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks and an international groundwater conference in San Francisco.

     The summer came and went quickly. All of the sudden it was August 1st and the time had come to check into competition at Fresno State University. Arriving there was nerve racking, but meeting new people like our first Canadian friends from Saskatchewan and our first ranching friends from Montana made things better.

     After a day of field station preparation, it was time for testing. Eight hours of extremely thorough tests later, my team felt pretty confident about our scores and we were on our way to Wild Rivers, a water park, for fun night. Having fun and not worrying about scores or tests with all of the other teams, especially our friends from South Carolina and Arkansas, was awesome.

     The next day sequestering, or just fancy word for being locked in a room all day with your team to create your oral presentation, occurred. Although we worked up until the very last second, we felt we were ready to present the next day.

     The next morning we presented our preliminary presentation and made it through alright, but had a few mistakes and were not sure if we would make it into final orals.

     Our fear was destroyed when our name was called first to present our presentation in the finals. Seconds after our name was called we were taken to a back room and given 30 minutes to prepare. We frantically went through our presentation as many times as we could until a knock on the door directed us to come out on stage.

     We walked out on stage and set up our posters just like any old presentation we had practiced before, but this one was way different. As soon as I heard Cory say, "With Web Environmental, we are making the connections of sustainability" I knew we had finished and had the best feeling in the world. We rocked that presentation.

     After all of the top 5 presentations had finished, we had a few hours before winners were announced. The time between seemed like an eternity.

     Finally, it was time for the award presentation, and the counting down of team places began.

     Fifteenth, fourteenth, thirteenth.

     Eighth, Seventh, Sixth.

     Then the announcing of the top 5 teams began.

     With each announcement of another state's name, the tension grew. Finally, time to announce second place came.

     When I heard Delaware be called to the stage, I couldn't breath. I looked down the row of my teammates and began to hug everyone like crazy. Not because Delaware had got second, but because we knew we had just won.

     As our name was called and we we walked across the stage, I felt as though I had made a difference. We had earned this not only for ourselves and our advisors, but for our school, city, and entire state as well. Our summer of hard work was worth something, a championship.

     The $5,000 college scholarship didn't hurt either.

     Winning was something I will never forget, but the one of the best parts of competition didn't involve awards or tests. The funnest part was getting to hang out with other teams and my own team which has pretty much become my family.

     After the awards ceremony, students were released to a free night and dance. The dance was great, but afterwards was even better.

     That night us and some members from South Carolina and Maryland were sitting in our dorm hallway talking when we decided to go down to the lobby so we wouldn't disturb others trying to sleep. By the time we had got to the lobby, our group of seven had turned into a group of fifty, but there was no problem with that.

     We talked, listened to music, ate junk food, and played games late into night, becoming more than competitors, becoming friends.

     While recruiting for the Envirothon team back in February, my future advisor said, "It's a rare feeling when people of above average intelligence work equally hard together and achieve something. It's a high you'll only receive a few times in your life."

     And through the 2010 North American Canon Envirothon, I have felt that high.