A group of Chenango Forks students beat out teams from across the country in a NASA science competition. Our Janelle Burrell met up with them and has more on their success.

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"I just always found it interesting since it's so close to earth and I always wanted to know more about it," Sarah Maximowicz, a sophomore.

The group was recently selected as the winners of NASA's first ever Lunar Science Research Competition, a huge feat considering the tough competition they faced.

"We were picked out as one of four schools out of the whole country. We were the one school east of the Mississippi River, we were going against schools in Texas, which are supposed to be really big NASA science schools," Sarah Andrus, a Chenango Forks junior.

The students conducted extensive research on Maria, the dark spots we see on the moon. Their studies involved counting the Maria craters and determining their sizes and when they were formed.

"From there, we found out the absolute ages of samples they have from the Maria from the Apollo missions," Benjamin Daniels a junior on the team.

The students had been working for several months on the project coming in nights and weekends to get all of their work done and were thrilled when they won.

"We were ecstatic," said Jackson Haskell, a junior on the team. "We were running through the halls screaming and yelling. We were so happy."

"It was one of those lucky things where we had five students come together who were not only motivated enough, but worked well together it was like perfect storm," Tim Conner a science teacher and the team's advisor.

A perfect storm that with hard work and determination, yielded some well deserved results.

The group will travel to California in July to meet with NASA scientists.