So last night came pretty close to being the best night of my life. Why? Well, I think I will start from the very beginning.
For about six years, now, I have been involved in Science Olympiad. This is basically a competition where a team of up to 15 students participates in science related events. We start preparing in October for the competition which occurs in March. In junior high, this competition was important. It was the most important event of every school. Why? Because Fairfield Junior High has not lost in 16 years. This number is still going. They placed first in B Division last night and will be going to nationals in May.
Since I left junior high, however, Science Olympiad has not been as big of a deal. I believe that this stems from the fact that, in the last 12 years, Layton High has only been to nationals three times. Davis High, our biggest rival, has gone the other nine times. We are always close in the runnings to them, though. Last year, we did not even consider preparing until the two weeks before competition and we came in fifth. Our coaches were proud of us but made sure that we were aware of how much better we could have done if we had started practices months earlier.
This year we worked harder. I am really only a coach, myself, but I tried harder to go to meetings. There were too many seniors for the team and I only have one event that I am seriously into. So I volunteered to be the alternate. I coach two of my friends on my one event and I participated in one of the trial events.
Yesterday morning my alarm went off at seven o'clock. It was a Saturday and it was early, which meant that I was not particularly happy, but I was ready to spend the day with my friends, listening as they came to and from their events, trying to decide if we had any real chance. By the end of the day I thought that we would be receiving a trophy for sure, but I did not think that we would be able to beat Davis. I was not torn up about that. I do not think that any of us really were. We had improved from last year and that was the important thing to remember.
Kara, Tom, Nicole and I were participating in an event called Pentathalon just for fun that afternoon. I needed something to do, but anything I was on could not be counted toward the team score. I was alright with that. I helped the team where I could throughout the day, that was enough for me (though I really do wish I had been able to compete and add to my collection of medals from junior high.) After that, we had just under four hours to kill until the award ceremony. We went to lunch and then proceeded to play games like "Psychiatrist" and a my friends' version of "I'm going on a trip."
During the awards several of our team members kept a tally of how "WE" were doing versus "THEM." Both teams were called on stage a lot, but there were others whose names were being heard a lot as well. By the end of the individual event awards we were fairly sure that we had beaten Davis, but we did not think either of us were going to nationals.
As usual, I do not really remember the rankings of any of the other teams. Northridge got eighth and my team was happy for them. We have plenty of friends who go to Northridge and one of our old Fairfield team mates is on their team as well. When they had announce the fourth place team and we still had not heard our name, the entire team leaned forward in our seats. This was it. We had made it to the top three. No matter what happened from this point, we would have been happy. We had improved from the year before and we had fun while we did it.
The announcer was painfully slow at this point and I am fairly sure that she was doing it specifically to torture us. Eventually, though, she continued. "Third place C Division goes to team (at this point none of us were really breathing, at least I wasn't) C-1 Davis High School!"
I think we just about died. Our screams were even louder than theirs as they walked up on to the stage. I was happy for them. Most of their team was not as happy, though. It makes sense to me. For a few of them, just like me, it was their last year of Science Olympiad and not making it to nationals was a big blow. They are used to winning and I think they had just expected that they would. They did a good job, though. Third place is better than 33 other teams did last night.
Anyway, after Davis High came off of the stage with their trophy we all moved forward in our seats again. We would be standing up to go on stage in a moment to receive our second place trophy. The world was a beautiful place. Behind me, a woman leaned toward us and congratulated us on beating Davis High.
The announcer looked down at her papers once again and then looked back up at us. "Second place for C Division goes to the team from UCAS high school!"
We erupted. There is no adequate way to describe what happened at that moment. Try to imagine it. UCAS had received second place. We had more medals and more mentions than Davis, which meant that we had beaten them. Conclusion? Not only had we beaten Davis, but by some miracle we had gotten first place. Not a single one of us had expected it.
UCAS went on stage and received their trophy while the Layton High team sat anxiously in their seats. We wanted our trophy. We had to stand up and get rid of this adrenaline we were feeling. The extreme desire to scream was filling all of us. Now if only she would call our name.
The lady sitting behind me congratulated us again. I thanked her and grinned. This was unbelievable.
"The 2011 state Science Olympiad winner, who will be going to nationals, is C-25 Layton High School!" We all jumped to our feet. Even our coaches were screaming and crying with us. We got on stage and everyone made sure to touch the trophy. We were in shock. None of us had believed it was possible. The Davis High team stood at their seats as they applauded us, but all I could think was that we had done it. By some miracle we were going to nationals.
Winning last night was better than winning for Fairfield ever was. Don't get me wrong, I am proud of every Science Olympiad team I have been a part of. I have been to nationals twice and I have two national medals. It is an amazing experience. However, winning with Fairfield was always expected. We never thought for a second that we would not be getting on a plane in May to head for the national competition. Standing on that stage with the first place trophy had been a given.
Not a single one of us (other than Zach) had truly believed that we would get first last night. We would have been happy with whatever we did. I don't believe that anyone in that room thought that we would do it. It was that feeling of complete surprise that I will never forget. It is that feeling of shock that made last night better than winning for Fairfield. I don't even know how to describe it.
All I can say is that we owe so much to the people that got us here.
