It is all about the UB Pride!

UB GRoW Home's Operations and Disassembly team!

UB GRoW Home’s Operations and Disassembly team!

If you haven’t heard, we were placed 2nd overall! Kudos to EVERY single person who made this possible! And we mean, EVERY SINGLE PERSON. Thank you so much 🙂

Here’s a summary of the beautiful trophies we cautiously brought back to Buffalo from California.

2ND PLACE!!

2ND PLACE!!

Trophies!

Trophies!

  • We finished at 2nd place with 941.191 points out of a possible 1,000. Stevens Institute of Technology, hailing from Hoboken, New Jersey, took first place with 950.685
  • 3rd in Communications – one of four juried competitions held as part of the 10-category event
  • For measured contest categories (non-juried), 1st place in Comfort Zone (95.719 out of 100 points), tied 1st place for Commuting (100 out of 100), tied 1st place for Energy Balance (100 out of 100), and 2nd place for Appliances (99.523 out of 100)

During those ten days of the competition, the scores were updated so often we could not keep our fingers away from the Refresh button and our eyes of the screen. We were crazzzyyy! Especially for those who were looking out for the team back in Buffalo, we felt nothing but excitement and anxiety. A good example would be Nick Rajkovich, one of our amazing faculty advisors from the School of Architecture and Planning. Check out his tweets below:

Screenshot of Nick's tweets

Awwww, Nick 😀 (I secretly hope you are not reading this.)

Basically, that’s how most of us were feeling. Every single day for those ten days. Along the way, the results of juried and measured contests were revealed. Finally, on the last day of the competition, the results of the last juried contest, Engineering, was revealed, and it was definitely a huge deciding factor. Learn more at http://www.buffalo.edu/news/releases/2015/10/034.html.

Prize giving ceremony in Irvine

At the Prize Giving Ceremony, Orange County Great Park.

Prize giving ceremony in Irvine

At the Prize Giving Ceremony, Orange County Great Park.

After the prize ceremony, it was the final weekend that the Solar Decathlon village was opened to the public. The Operations team was all pumped up for public tours. Thank you to those who came up to us and shared words of encouragement, congratulations and appreciation. We truly appreciate you too!

Following this, the GRoW Home was handed over to the Disassembly team for deconstruction, and loading everything back onto three trucks that made their 5-days road trip back to Buffalo!

Disassembly team at Orange County Great Park

Disassembly team at Orange County Great Park. More pictures at https://www.flickr.com/photos/growbuffalo/

Our awesome drivers, Art, Dan and Eric.

Our awesome drivers, Art, Dan and Eric. More pictures at https://www.flickr.com/photos/growbuffalo/

The trucks

The trucks. View more pictures at https://www.flickr.com/photos/growbuffalo/

We would not have reached this stage without the support, patience, faith and generosity of UB, UB staff, our professors, our sponsors, family members and friends. Thank you!!! 🙂

It has been a meaningful journey, and will continue to be one that enriches our learning experience, and be etched in our memories for a long long time!

Written by Zhi Ting Phua, member of the Communications and Disassembly team.