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It was five o’clock in the morning. After many days and nights of working on my research paper that was to be submitted to Humantech Thesis Paper Contest held by Samsung Electronics, I was completely exhausted. A strong headache overwhelmed me, and I did not have the energy even to move my fingers. Yet the scenery was beautiful. The sun was yet to rise, but the eastern sky was already slightly bright. Covered with snow, the whole campus was quietly breathing. It was a White Christmas.

             Looking at the calm, snowy campus, the months I had spent on my thesis paper went by in my head like an old film. When my teacher first brought up the topic, I thought it was impossible, if not nonsense. How could I create a program that sorts plankton images, especially if I knew noting about image processing? Besides, because I was the only one capable of programming among the three team members, so I was responsible for the whole programming part. The teacher was firmly convinced that I could do it. Left with little choice, I agreed to start the challenging project.

             The first months were for the study of image processing, image analysis, and the programming language. While other students were enjoying the unusually relaxing period at the beginning of the new semester, I was buried under thick, wordy books. After school, I spent hours in the earth science lab, observing the tiny planktons with microscopes. The more I studied, the more confused I became. It was as if I was struggling in a complete darkness where there was no path out. I was certain that the project would fail; sooner or later I would have to tell the teacher that it was impossible. The only hope left was a miracle.

             One day, as usual, I was staring at the pictures of planktons without much hope. Then, out of sudden, a pattern came to my eyes. It was a much clearer, simpler pattern than those complicated, inapplicable patterns that our team had been discussing for weeks.

The project suddenly turned into an enlivened phase. Having the path lied in front of me, I felt great zeal to work. I worked literally day and night; even during the breaks between classes, the pictures of planktons and the program lines were roaming in my head. Though the road was still hard - forming my logics into an actual programming language was not an easy task - but it was no longer the boring, unbearable time as it used to be. Even the difficulties seemed interesting and fun.

             The twenty-six-page paper, the first thesis paper I had ever wrote, won the gold medal in the tenth Humantech Thesis Paper Contest. I received $3000 and the opportunity to participate in a field trip to Beijing as well. Yet, the more valuable earnings were the feeling of passion and enthusiasm, the inexpressible delight of finding the solution after months of work, and the experience of devoting myself to a project for days and nights. I learned the joy of learning and investigating profoundly on a subject. I was no longer afraid or bored of studing; I could see myself enjoying the next four years. Indeed, considering the great earnings, the project was the most important experience in my life.