The competition was extremely strict and regulated.  The first day was a training day.  They took all 57 teams (representing different states and provinces) to an undisclosed location, which was the Flagstaff Arboretum.  There were 5 stations, for each of the categories.  Wildlife, Forestry, Aquatic Ecology, Soils and Land Use, and Current Issue (which was the Recreational Impact on Natural Resources).

There were official people at each station with little headsets that regulated exactly when it started and when it stopped.  Once it was over, the speaker was cut off, so everyone would get the same amount of time.  We also had official notebooks and couldn’t bring anything but water and the “Learning Logs.”

The next day was testing.  They took us to another undisclosed location, Catarac Lake, and tested us over the 5 stations.  Then, Thursday was the trip to the Grand Canyon.  Friday we had training for our oral presentation in the morning, then we were sequestered in a room with only the 5 team members for 8 hours.  There were people that were essentially prison guards, to escort us to the bathroom and drinking fountain.  Everyone was given the exact same supplies.  At one point, our scissors broke, and it took 2 hours for them to check the scissor’s policy and get back to us with a new pair.

The next day was the oral presentation.  It was a 20 minute speech about a recreational and restoration plan for a park in Arizona.  Our group, being musical, incorporated Beatles music in both the introduction and conclusion.

This is a team photo on the last night, at the awards banquet and dance.  Our team gets along, most of the time, but we can get on each other’s nerves, as we did at the competition.  By the end of the week, we had decided that we had enough team bonding for a while!

Here are Iowa, Illinois, and Idaho, the “I states.”  Indiana was not included in this.  Over the course of the week, these 3 “I” teams became pretty close.  Whenever we saw each other we’d yell whatever state they were, or “I power!” or something to that effect.  We also had our “I” state symbol- holding up the pinky.  So when Idaho got 10th place, all of the “I” states were going crazy, and holding up our little “I” signs, as did Idaho on stage.

Many of the state champion schools were special charter schools, or special science and technology magnet schools, or college prep schools.  We were just a normal public school – we weren’t expecting to do extremely well, but we finished 21st out of 57.  We were very happy with those results.  We did our best, and could not have expected any more.

It was an amazing experience to find about 250 other “environerds” like ourselves, very refreshing.  We all had some amazing discussions about invasive species, cryptogamic soils, and watersheds, which was very refreshing!

one year ago…”Mousehole Days”

This is at Oak Creek Canyon, near Sedona, the first of many team photos taken.

Here’s Sunset Crater.  A volcano that exploded relatively recently.

Here are two team mates by a large chunk of volcanic rock.

Here are the San Francisco peaks, visible from everywhere in Flagstaff.  The highest is at 12,000 feet or so.

My lifelong dream of going to the Lowell Observatory was also satisfied on this trip.  This telescope is 128 years old.  It was the telescope that first found Pluto, and was the telescope that was used to provide evidence for an expanding universe.

This is at one of the ancient ruins in the area.  It was amazing to me that these structures could still be standing after so many years!

This is at Wupatki.  It’s my new house.

This is the Grand Canyon.  We journeyed here during the competition, on our one free day.  It was gorgeous, and we had several nice hikes while learning about its environment and recreational impacts on it.

one year ago…”Thingamajig Thursday #82″

Our journey started long ago, after qualifying for regional and then winning the state contest.  Over the summer we busily fundraised and studied for the competition.

The journey to Arizona was a bit more eventful than we had bargained for.  At  6 am, the day we were scheduled to leave, we received a phone call, saying that our plane had broken, and that we would not be able to leave.  Later, when our advisor called the airline back, we discovered that another plane would be able to take us.  So, we journeyed to the Cedar Rapids airport, a 5 gate complex, to catch our flight.  When we arrived, we discovered that our flight would be late, due to bad weather.  This would leave us a 15 minute window to board our connecting flight in Minneapolis.  After checking every other possible flight combination and receiving about 5 different boarding passes and flight assignments, we decided to take the risk of spending the night in Minneapolis.

Soon, we discovered that our flight had been delayed, even more.  To the point that we would miss our flight by more than 45 minutes.  Luckily, we were able to convince the airline to put us up in a hotel for the night, for which we were extremely grateful.  We also got food vouchers for breakfast.  We worked really hard to raise money to go, so this saved us more than $150 overall, which was pretty thrilling.

Here I am on the first flight, displaying the information cards that everyone has memorized after their second flight.

When we arrived at the Phoenix airport, a day late, we discovered that they had given away the van we had rented, and given us an SUV instead.  This was a rather problematic arrangement, because there was no trunk space, and only enough seats for the 7 of us (team members and chaperones).  Thus, we had an extremely uncomfortable 3 hour ride from Phoenix to Flagstaff completely piled with luggage and unable to move.

But, the one thing I can say about the trip there was that it was extremely eventful, and not at all ho-hum.

one year ago…”Bridges”

The band raised money for a year for their trip.

Here is the Bobcat Marching Band in the Fiesta Bowl Parade in Phoenix, AZ.

Here is the Bobcat Marching Band on the field. In contrast to most events – the more expensive tickets were furthest away from the field.

Here’s Claire getting ready just before the field show.

A close-up shot of Claire in her uniform. All pictures courtesy of gj.
one year ago…