TSA: State Competition

Last March from the 16-18th, WGHS TSA students attended the TSA competition in Athens, GA where we had multiple winners!
​by Cameron Parker

Overview:
On March 16th TSA headed out to compete in the state competition with Mr. Wheeler heading the team. The competition was based on many different areas with teams and individual events. Mr. Wheeler says “The competition took place from Thursday to Saturday during school hours.” This was a good opportunity for students in TSA to bond and become more in tune with the TSA competitions and their teammates.

Students in this competition were able to skip school for two days and compete in their respective areas which allowed them to build up more opportunities for their college resume. twelfth grader Zachary Schrach says “TSA is a technology-based organization so it looks good on your college applications to see that you're involved with your community and has personally helped me get into Georgia Tech.” These competitions can give you the experience/ability to apply for higher education.

Out of about 100 schools Walnut Grove did very well with our teams scoring very high and one of our students (Lauren Brandt) even getting the number one essay in the whole state which is an amazing accomplishment and a boost to TSA motivation. Lauren explained to us that she was scared at first going into the competition (being her first time), yet she ended up doing very well and scoring the best in the whole state!

Accommodations:
The students that attended were able to stay at a hotel for the days that they were at the competition with Chick-fil-A on the first day with students having to provide their food after. Mr. Wheeler walks us through the experience saying “The students come in and everyone has their competition pre-made and if they make it through the first round then they have to go in front of the judges and sometimes they will get a second task to do, like building a bridge or taking photographs or whatever the second round task entails.” Students are graded 1-10 for most of the competitions with a few solo contests.

Apply yourself:
Students in TSA prepared for this event by coming to the weekly meetings on Wednesday and participating. They have also prepared their respective areas in advance to crush the competition. If you are interested in joining TSA you can sign up, pay the fee, go to the weekly meetings, and try to start participating yourself. TSA is always looking for new students to participate in events and competitions. Eleventh grader Lauren Brandt tells about the TSA meetings, “In the club, you usually have weekly meetings on Wednesdays where we get to work on projects. [Mr.] Wheeler brings snacks sometimes, and you get to hang out with your friends, and we've done cahoots a couple of times.”

​If you are not sure yet you probably want to join the engineering class to see if you would enjoy TSA. Speak to Mr. Wheeler for more information.​