Recently, members of the Lowndes High School and Hahira Middle School Technology Student Association traveled to Nashville, Tennessee to compete in the 39th annual National TSA Conference. On such a grand stage, where more than 7000 TSA members from the United States, Germany and Turkey attended, Lowndes County TSA was once again well represented through leadership and competitive skills.

Leadership

Jack Crawford, LHS Senior and National TSA Vice President, assisted in conducting General Sessions, the Annual Business Meeting, and a Region 2 Meeting, as well as campaigned for the office of National TSA President.

Trevor Terry, LHS Senior, is currently serving his second term as Georgia TSA State President.

Preston Crawford, LHS Freshman, is also serving a second term as the current GA TSA State Sergeant at Arms. These two young men led Georgia in two delegation meetings, a region meeting, and general sessions.

John Newton, LHS TSA advisor was honored at the conference as the Georgia TSA Advisor of the Year while Lowndes High School’s TSA chapter received the chapter of excellence award.

Pine Grove Middle School’s advisor Curt Johnson was presented with the Largest Middle School White CAP Chapter Award.

Competitive Events

The highlight of the conference is always the awards ceremony where this year more than 7000 competitors attended with hopes to grace the stage for top ten recognition. The LHS Animatronics team composed of Sem Martinez, Trevor Terry and Ethan Wetherington received 4th place. Team 383V, composed of Sem Martinez and Trevor Terry, placed 11th overall in VEX robotics programming and driver skills.

Hahira Middle School hit the stage with a total of five times at this year’s conference. Cavan Fulp’s C02 Dragster finished 10th in the nation out of more than 100 entries.  Mason Steel, Hannah Bonner, Kathryn Crawford and Preston Crawford’s  STEM Animation entry placed eighth. Preston Crawford placed eighth in Promotional Marketing. Courtney Raymond and Tate Green’s Community Service Video placed 6th. Tate Green, Sarah Cole, Preston Crawford and Kathryn Crawford comprised the team that won first place in Mass Production. Winning first in such a competitive atmosphere against so many talented students is a great accomplishment for the HMS TSA chapter.

The finale of the award ceremony and the conference is always the swearing in of the new national officer team. Jack Crawford was announced as the newly elected National TSA President for the 2016-2017 school year. Lowndes County can proudly proclaim to have students serving as the National TSA President, GA TSA State President and the GA TSA State Sergeant at Arms. These accomplishments reinforce how important  Career and Technical Student Organizations, like the Technology Student Association, are for the development of our future leaders and workforce professionals.