Technology Student Association Members from over thirty states and Germany recently attended this year’s National Technology Student Association (TSA) 25^th Anniversary Conference and Competitions held in Orlando June 25-29. The conference attracted more then 4,000 students, parents, alumni, teachers and advisors. This group participated in student competitions, general sessions, special interest sessions and other events sponsored by TSA.

Eleven very excited students from Booker T. Washington (BTW) Senior High School attended their first national conference and competitions. Most of the group attended the Florida Technology Student Association (FL-TSA) Conference and Competition held in Daytona Beach earlier in April, where their chapter won top awards and finished as state finalists. Ciana Blumenstock won first place in Technical Research & Report Writing and Jose Martinez and Shihani Wallace won first place in the Technology Problem Solving competition. The Chapter Team from BTW finished fourth, Keon Williams finished fourth in Extemporaneous Presentation and Harold Sanchez finished fourth in Prepared Presentation. Fifth place finalists were Luis Rivera in Imaging Technology, Evans Jean-Louis in Transportation Modeling and Hilton Cordoba in Flight Endurance. The team that competed in System Control Technology finished sixth, the team from Film Technology finished seventh and Jose Martinez finished seventh in Flight Endurance. In addition, the group won the First Place Outstanding Spirit Award for senior high schools.

With such a great showing at the state competition the students were ready and willing to prepare for competition at the national conference. Many challenges faced the students in raising the funds needed to travel. Through the relentless pursuit of TSA Advisor, Mr. Jerone Lee and his students, needed funding was secured. Due to scheduling conflicts the first place team in Technology Problem Solving had to ready substitutes for the competition. Mario Rosel and Flavio Silva stepped up to the occasion. State winners Jose and Shihani helped to prepare them for the competition. The chapter rose with elation as the team’s name was read as first place winners at the national conference.

Mr. Lee hopes his students return next year ready to face the challenges of the competitions TSA offers. For more information about TSA and the competitions available to middle and senior high students, visit the national web page at https://www.tsaweb.org/ or visit the Florida web site at https://www.florida-tsa.net/.