Oklahoma Technology Student Association members brought home two membership awards, a national officer and more than 70 other awards from the National TSA Conference.
Oklahoma took 389 people to the conference in Orlando, Florida, where they competed against more than 9,000 students from across the country. They received two superlative membership awards: Most Middle School Chapters and Most Chapters Overall.
Lizzie Grounds, Broken Arrow High School, was elected national TSA treasurer, and three Oklahoma students received a Gold Achievement Award: Lovella Harjo, Dunbar Intermediate School, Okmulgee; Blake Jackson, Edmond Heartland Middle School; and Tommy O’Kelley, Roland High School.
Also, John Williams, Atoka High School, received a National Technical Honor Society TSA Scholarship.
Oklahoma TSA had six first place winners: Edmond Heartland Middle School, coding middle school; Jae Swanner, Purcell Junior High, dragsters middle school; Vian Middle School, electrical applications; Grounds, extemporaneous speech; Central Middle School, Bartlesville, STEM animation middle school; and Stillwater Middle School, VEX IQ challenge.
The state delegation had seven second place finishers: Edmond Summit Middle School, biotechnology middle school; Claremore High School, chapter team high school; Bartlesville High School, data science and analytics high school; Edmond Summit Middle School, data science and analytics middle school; Edmond Cheyenne Middle School, mechanical engineering middle school; Marleigh Rodriguez, Alex Middle School, promotional marketing middle school; and Edmond Summit Middle School, video game design middle school.
Oklahoma brought home four third place finishes: Oologah Middle School, chapter team middle school; BryAnna Willoughby, Edmond Heartland Middle School, dragster middle school; Alex Middle School, off the grid middle school; and Nyla Tripathy, Jenks Middle School, prepared speech middle school.
In addition, the state had 52 top 10 finalists.
Also, Stephen O’Neal, Roland Public Schools, was the high school Chapter Adviser of the Year, and Tara Royal, Lindsay Public Schools, was the middle school Chapter Adviser of the Year.
“Attending the TSA National Conference is always an honor for those of us from Oklahoma. The enthusiasm and dedication of our students and advisers are evident, both in the size of our audience and our presence on stage,” said Tami Redus, TSA state adviser at the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education.
TSA is one of seven CareerTech student organizations affiliated with CareerTech programs. It is affiliated with science, technology, engineering and math education. The other six are Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (family and consumer sciences education), FFA (agricultural education), DECA (marketing education), SkillsUSA (trade and industrial education), Business Professionals of America (business and information technology education) and HOSA (health careers education).
Oklahoma CareerTech: Education that works for you
The Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education provides leadership and resources and assures standards of excellence for a comprehensive statewide system of career and technology education. The system offers programs and services in 29 technology center districts operating on 60 campuses, 397 PK-12 school districts, 16 Skills Centers campuses that include three juvenile facilities and 32 adult education and family literacy providers.
The agency is governed by the State Board of Career and Technology Education and works closely with the State Department of Education and the State Regents for Higher Education to provide a seamless educational system for all Oklahomans.
