by Benny M. and Jacob N.
Starting at the beginning of the school year, students begin work on their projects in preparation for TSA state. Students code, write, and build their projects at home and at school, on their own time. More often than not, students take on multiple events. This makes such a large time window imperative for getting work done.
Students are not required to have premade projects at the event though. Competitions such as On Demand Video and Tech Problem Solving are offered on site. According to senior Auggie M, who participated as an actor for On Demand Video stated, “I really enjoyed acting in a couple of short films. It was something I’ve never done before and I had the time of my life doing it.” There are also many fun events which are not competitive. These range from robot workshops, to drone racing, to giant Jenga. For those who are looking for activities outside of the hotel rooms, this is a great choice.
When the TSA State conference begins, students arrive at the Denver Tech Center Marriott and are given a hotel room, the time-restricted On Demand teams rush to get their films done, while others take the first chance they get to retire to their rooms. This only marks the first day of the conference however.
The next morning, interviews for the final round are held. This operates at the main means for qualification. Students go face to face with the judges in an interview, where they delineate process, inspiration, and setbacks when making their projects. “It’s time consuming,” explained Mr Hock, who both runs the club and judges, “But it’s a lot of fun and worth it.” Judges score contestants based on answers, quality, and professionality. “While judging was cool,” noted Mr Hock, “it’s chaotic, and a little nerve-y because you know how important some of this is to the kids and you become responsible for outcomes and you know that there’s three kids who are gonna be recognized and there’s a lot of projects that don’t get recognized, that are as good in some ways.”
Following the conference, during the Award Ceremony, projects which placed for awards are announced. From Animatronics to Webmaster, the winners in each category are announced. This is the culmination of months of preparation, excitement, and effort. Months of sleepless nights working on projects, re reading design specifications and team work all come down to that exact moment.
Mountain Range managed to secure two medals at the awards ceremony, along with several semifinal qualifiers. MRHS’s Audio Podcasting and Theatrical Set Design teams both managed to get a spot on the leaderboard. This however does not discount the work that was put into the other projects by all the other teams.
The annual TSA State conference serves not only as a way to display the hard work put into each project by the students but as a getaway from home that promotes independence and teamwork. Despite the difficulties and hard work that goes into being in TSA, it is an extremely rewarding and memorable experience.
Awards/Placements:
● 2nd place award for Theatrical Set Design team 1
○ Lucas M
○ Jacob N
○ Benny M
● 2nd place award for Audio Podcasting team 1
○ Daniel M
○ Will B
○ Ryan H
○ Ryan T
○ Emma M
○ Braylen R