// Sitting at the hotel getting our final drawings ready to print for the inspectors and judges, it's hard to believe this is all about to happen. It feels like years ago we were here for the planning workshop this January, and longer still since I first got involved in this project last summer. But the reality is hard to ignore as we check out the stunning Virginia Tech entry from its temporary home at the building museum and trade last hurried emails with the DOE about inspections and site logistics.

I am so honored to be involved in this great effort. Looking back on it, it's not the long hours behind us that make the months seem like years, but it is the distance we have come as people - both as individuals and as part of Team California. I can't begin to describe all this project has taught us.

Being the only entirely undergraduate designed, managed, and (mostly) built home, this project forced us to jump in like nothing else we have ever done. Our faculty advisor was always there when we asked for guidance, but it was clear this was our show from the beginning, and what a difference that has made.

We all grew up fast on this project. Learning countless new skills - both on paper and on site - learning to wear many hats at once, to communicate across disciplines and to manage our people and resources. It taught us the real world realities of deadlines, money, and having to solve problems on the go with only half the information you want (and none of the time).

But more than anything this project taught us how phenomenally competent we are, showed us a very real and tangible sense that we can step up and take on nearly any task. I stand next to the dozen men and women who have made this house and brought it across the country, and I don't see the students I saw in January or last summer: I see some of the brightest, most competent people I have ever met, now fully aware of their power and force.

I'm excited for the competition, absolutely. But more than that I'm excited by the people I see, both on my team and from the others. We have done something great, and in doing so, we have realized that we have much more in us to give.

Cheers, Decathletes, to long careers of being (and making) the change we wish to see in the world.