| TSA
students compete at State
Ten industrious students headed to Boise to compete in the Idaho Technology Student Association Convention on Thursday March 11th. The Prairie TSA Club competed against students from Wallace, Idaho Falls, Homedale, Minico, Rexburg, and Meridian, among others. Upon arriving at the competition, several students had to take qualifying tests in technology bowl, photography, and parliamentary procedure. Some of the tests narrow down the field of entrants for an event, others are combined with your on-site event to come up with a winner. Among the 1st place winners were: Troy Lorentz and Josh Roeper in Manufacturing Open Division, with their cedar chest. Matt Jungert, Drew Cochran and Garrett Workman earned a first in VEX Robotics, which required them to make a robot then complete certain tasks within a given time frame. Matt Jungert, Claire Whitley and Kayla Johnson earned top honors for their scale model of a museum in the Architectural Model competition, and Kayla Johnson also earned a first for her Safety Poster. Garrett Workman and Drew Cochran were 2nd place winners in Manufacturing Prototype, making symbols to display in front of the TSA officers during Parliamentary Procedure. Students DJ Walker and Kayla Johnson walked away with a third place in Technology Problem Solving, Silas Whitley, DJ Walker and Kayla Johnson also earned a third in On Demand Video, making a 60 second video on how not to use a cell phone. Competing in the Chapter Team event, in which the team must conduct a meeting and complete several tasks, were Silas Whitley, Claire Whitley, Garrett Workman, Tyler Workman, DJ Walker and Kayla Johnson, who also took home third. Silas Whitley and DJ Walker made a video game and received a third place in Electronic Game Design. Other students competing in events were: Claire Whitley, Silas Whitley, Matt Jungert, Garrett Workman, Tyler Workman, and Troy Lorentz- Structural Engineering by building a tower; DJ Walker, Silas Whitley, Josh Roeper, Troy Lorentz, Kayla Johnson, Drew Cochran, Matt Jungert, Garrett Workman –Technology Problem Solving, in which they were required to build a tower out of given materials and use a bottle of water and string to move a marble from the ground to the top of the tower; Tyler Workman, Josh Roeper–Promotional Graphics and Safety Poster; Josh Roeper, Garrett Workman, Silas Whitley, Claire Whitley, DJ Walker, and Kayla Johnson – Technology Bowl; Tyler Workman–Imaging Technology,. First place winners have the opportunity to attend the TSA National Convention in Dallas, Texas during the third week of June. The club would like to thank Rick and Laurie Workman and Rusty and Laurie Lorentz for attending the convention and helping out immensely with the students, judging, setting up and taking down equipment and displays for the convention, not to mention the hours of time they put into helping the students prepare for competition. Their help was greatly appreciated not only by the students and Mr. Richardson, but the event staff in Boise as well. It has been a big commitment on the part of the students to prepare for state competition. Some of the events took as long as 3 months to research, plan, and build. A special thank you goes out to Rick and Laurie Workman, who were always available to assist the students with a variety of projects during weekly club work nights. Without the help of these individuals, and many other parents and community members, it would have been difficult to accomplish the great achievements the students did at state. Their desire and willingness to give the students every opportunity to learn and achieve is greatly appreciated by the students and Mr. Richardson. 
The Prairie Technology Students of America (TSA) at their state conference. In front is Claire Whitley. Middle from left are Drew Cochran, Matt Jungert, Tyler Workman, Kayla Johnson, Jerry Richardson and Silas Whitley. Back from left are Troy Lorentz, D.J. Walker, Josh Roeper and Garreet Workman. Photo provided by Jerry Richardson. 
The Prairie TSA parliamentary procedure team which took third place at state. From left are D.J. Walker, Tyler Workman, Silas Whitley, Claire Whitley, Kayla Johnson and Garrett Workman. Photo provided by Jerry Richardson. |
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