Founded in 1958 as the American Industrial Arts Student Association before becoming its own organization in 1988, the Technology Student Association is preparing to host its thirty-sixth national conference this summer. The theme this year is the “Evolution of Excellence.”
The TSA Team will be led by Media Teacher Amye Tucker and Media/Game Design Teacher John Fruge. The students attending this event are:

Kain Brown
Kai Tucker
Jacob Contreras
Nathan Lockridge
Austin Harvey

“It would be such an honor, and so exciting, if we win at Nationals,” Amye Tucker said. “However, to even make it to this stage is such a huge accomplishment. I’m already so proud of my students, and as long as they’re happy with their final product, I’m ecstatic.”

The event begins at Regionals where competitors are assigned an engineering topic to brainstorm ideas on. They then have 36 hours to create, edit , and submit a one- minute video discussing their given topic to the judging website.

“Each competition starts at a regional contest,” Fruge said. “If you win at the Regional contest then you advance to the state competition. If the team places in the top three at state, then you qualify for the national competition.”

There are three different levels of achievement during the entire course of the convention: Bronze, Silver, and Gold. Bronze awards are for those who won the chapter and district level. The Silver award is achieved after prevailing in the state competition. And the Gold trophy is awarded to those who win the national conference. Currently, the TSA team is on a streak to attain the Gold award.

“We continuously work when we get the chance, and always plan ahead to what we want to incorporate into our projects,” senior Jose Vazquez.

‘Learning to lead in a technical world’ is the chosen motto for the organization as the world has experienced a significant and fast growth in technology since the start of the twentieth century. The whole purpose of this event is for students to apply learned technological and engineering skills in innovative ways. Leaders are a key part of every major historical event, and are as important now as they were then.

“My good friends Gage Brown, Nolan Hurtt, Jack Brown, and Lucian Johnson have all done an amazing job this year,” senior Jose Vazquez said. “Gage and Nolan have impressed me so much with their coding skills and Jack’s graphic design is very well done. Lucian has learned 3D modeling through this competition and he’s done a very good job with the models he made.”

The National TSA will hold more than 200,000 persons for the school year, with over 7,000 attendees participating. This will mean over 200 judges are needed for the national TEAMS competition and national TSA conference to get an accurate and agreed upon consensus. Topics for the conference range from every field that holds connections to STEM. Fields such as agriculture, audio podcasting, biotechnology, children’s stories, animatronics, coding/computer science, and data science and analytics.

“(What) I am most looking forward to is the scale of the competition,” Tucker said. “From what I’ve heard, there are so many students from all over the U.S. competing, and I think it’s important for our students to see how far reaching this organization is.”

Pushing on through the trials and tribulations to Nationals is a huge achievement within itself. Ranking within the top competitors, or even winning, the contest will be a dream come true.

“It would mean all the work the students have put into the competition is recognized and they would be recognized at the national level for their effort,” Fruge said.

Our team will compete on Web Design and On-Demand Video, and will attend this contest in Rosen Shingle Creek, Orlando, Florida on June 26 through June 30.