They are traveling to meet with clients and investors, people who are supporting them as they work to develop what they hope will be a revolutionary, Earth-friendly vehicle. Because of confidentiality agreements, I can't offer details, but I can assure you, my co-workers are doing wonderful things.

And what do I do as the firm's "sustainability conscience?" Well, on a given day, I sit at my computer, researching anything and everything "green:" treehugger.com, greenroofs.com, research environmental commitments of well-known companies (Toyota, Subaru, Ford, HP, Toshiba...), sustainable companies (Steelcase, Interface...), ecogeek.com, and the list goes on. I try to read everything I can about sustainable vehicle production, distilling what I learn and then sharing it with the other staff members.

I give short presentations to the company's leadership team, often summarizing books with a sustainability theme, including: Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things by William McDonough, former dean of University of Virginia's Architecture School; Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next industrial Revolution by Paul Hawken (of Smith & Hawken garden store fame) and Amory and Hunter Lovins (the co-founders of the Rocky Mountain Institute, the sustainability think tank in Colorado); and Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature by Janine Benyus (founder of the Biomimicry Institute).

I also interviewed each employee individually about their personal sustainability practices and attitudes (using a survey instrument I created). I sit in on design meetings, am introduced to visiting clients and investors, and report directly to the company's CEO.

During my third week on staff, the CEO sent me to Snowmass, Colo., to visit the Rocky Mountain Institute. While there, I interviewed analysts and consultants for their ideas about how to keep my employers on track in terms of sustainability. It was a great business opportunity for the company, and it was a priceless growing experience for me: first business trip, first rental car, first business meal, etc. It also was the first time I truly felt as if I would make it in the real world. In fact, I now realize I am well prepared for it. I made contacts I know I'll keep for years, and I learned a lot about current sustainability initiatives.

As the summer progressed, I continued to research the latest trends in "green" manufacturing and plant construction, and I gave more presentations - on my research and on the results of my staff interviews. I also attended an automotive-focused conference in San Jose at the end of July and visited an eco-friendly semiconductor plant in Richardson, Tex.

This job has been such a wonderful opportunity. I've learned about sustainability and about the business world. I've been right in the middle of the birth of a brand-new company (the vibe is so intense!), and I've become convinced that the environmental sector is the career path for me. I know I can do great things in this world if I connect with like-minded people, like the people I've met this summer.

And this job isn't even the biggest event of my summer; I also was able to come to the aid of someone very dear to me. In August of 2006, my only sibling, Ben, who was 16 at the time, was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma (lymph node cancer). For the past two years, while I've lived a better-than-average life as a college student, he's been dealing with this disease. He's gone through several rounds of chemotherapy and radiation treatment and suffered several relapses, while constantly wishing to be the "normal" high school kid he had been before.

In March of this year, the doctors discovered that I was a perfect match to serve as a stem cell donor for Ben. The goal was to harvest my white cells (stem cells) and inject them into Ben so that my immune system would take over and replacing Ben's within a year. With luck, my immune system would then fight and destroy the cancer.

I was very excited about being able to help Ben in such a concrete way. On May 20, I had my cells harvested through an apheresis machine and they were injected into Ben. Now, almost six weeks past the transplant, things are going great. It's a bit too early to know if the cancer's gone for good, but we're all hoping that Ben's battle is finally won.

I'm glad I stuck close to home this summer because of this situation. I can help my parents out around the house and spend time with them when I come home from work.

When I'm not working or spending time with the family, I attend a night course (environmental health science) at a local university, visit friends, or curl up with a book I've been meaning to read for ages.

However, despite the wonderful experiences I've had in Indiana this summer, I know I will be ready to return to Davidson for the school year.