TSA Success!

TSA Recap from Mr. Powers:

"Last year was S.T.A.R. Labs first trip out to the state competition, and I kept getting asked, "Who are you and what's STAR Labs?" Well this year, after beating every school in Manatee County (and pretty much the rest of the State of Florida), we showed them who we are.

Please welcome home the Technology Student Association overall 3rd place team in the State of Florida, Your S.T.A.R. Labs Crew!

A huge thank you to Mrs. Powers for all the work she put in as my co-advisor, and all the teachers who work with these kiddos to help them learn the essential academic, creative, and leadership skills that could make this possible, as well as admin and everyone else instrumental in creating a fertile environment for such success. And now, for the recognitions:

First, one student was awarded the US Navy Medal for Excellence in Engineering, Jacob Farrington! So Cool!

From across the entire state and against thousands of kids from long-established tech programs, these students earned recognition as the best of the best. Please join me in congratulating:

First Place:

Coding - Levi Clough and Eva Schatz

Dragster - Jacob Farrington

Video Game Design - Levi Clough, Mia Molina, Eva Schatz, and Kevin Papa

2nd Place:

Challenging Technology Issues - Elijah Sanchez and Keya Trivedi

STEM Animation - Isabella Bussie, Kaia Hopkins, and Rylee Schecter

3rd Place:

Information Technology - Elliot Vega

Structural Engineering - Ryan Abdulla and Luis Mahiquez

System Control Technology - Maritza Lopez, Josdiel Torres, and Tristan Disharoon

Top 10 State Finalist (Still pretty freakin' cool to be top 10 in the state if you ask me):

Biotechnology - Mia Molina, Eva Schatz, Mia Guerra, and Kevin Papa

Career in Technology Prep - Eva Schatz

Children's Story Design - Emma Cole and Maritza Lopez

Computer-Aided Design (CAD) - Dylan Cujas and Wyatt Cole

Construction - Dylan Cujas and Wyatt Cole

Data Science and Analytics - Levi Clough, Dylan Cujas, and Wyatt Cole

Electrical Applications - Jacob Farrington and Mia Molina

Essay on Technology - Isabella Bussie

Flight - Emma Cole

Inventions and Innovations - Tegan Dahl, Tristan Disharoon, and Austin Papa

Leadership Strategies - Kenneth Kahns, Mia Guerra, and Kaia Hopkins

Mass Production - Sky Commissar and Rylee Schechter

Mechanical Engineering - Tristan Disharoon, Josdiel Torres, and Jacob Farrington

Speech on Technology - Mateo Petrelli

Technical Design - Emma Cole and Eva Schatz

Video Web Series on Tech Issue - Sky Commissar, Elijah Sanchez, and Keya Trivedi

Robotics - Austin Papa, Mateo Petrelli, and Maritza Lopez

I hope I didn't miss any. Most of these events were our first time, so they better watch out next year once we know what the heck we're doing.

Please show some love to these kiddos if you happen to see them. They earned it. Can't wait to get back to the lab, learn from our failures, and get to work on improving for next year. Also, I think some of these guys are headed to Nationals, so stay tuned."