Oklahoma Technology Student Association members brought home three membership awards, a national officer, nine Gold Achievement Awards and more than 40 other awards from the 47th National TSA Conference in Nashville, Tennessee.
Oklahoma students competed against more than 10,000 students from across the country and received three superlative membership awards: Most Middle School Chapters, Most Middle School Members and Most Chapters Overall.
Lizzie Grounds, Broken Arrow High School, was elected national TSA vice president. Nine Oklahoma students received a Gold Achievement Award: Jacob Ellis, Okmulgee Dunbar Intermediate School; Hannah Flaherty, Matthew Hall and Tucker Meek, all of Jenks Middle School; Lovella Harjo, Okmulgee High School; Vincent Huang, Tulsa Technology Center and Jenks High School; Barbara Laxton, Stillwater High School; Darick Pham, Mustang High School; and Nelson Zheng, Alva High School.
Pham also received a National Technical Honor Society TSA Scholarship.
Oklahoma TSA had five first place winners: Alex Middle School, children’s stories middle school; Brynn Barnoskie, Vian Middle School, prepared speech middle school; Kaizlyn Dobrinski, Edmond Heartland Middle School, promotional marketing middle school; Roland Middle School, system control technology middle school; and Broken Arrow Oneta Ridge Middle School, vlogging middle school.
The state delegation had three second place finishers: Carnegie Middle School, challenging technology issues middle school; Alex High School, children’s stories high school; and Kinsley Cui, Norman Whittier Middle School, essays on technology, middle school.
Oklahoma brought home six third place finishes: Tulsa Tech-Bixby, animatronics high school; Moore Norman Tech-Norman North High School, CAD engineering high school; Claremore High School, chapter team high school; Aline Cleo High School, on demand video middle school; Sebastian Bermudez, Grove Middle School promotional marketing middle school; and Stilwell Middle School, structural engineering middle school.
In addition, the state had 35 top 10 finalists.
Valerie McCauley, Alex Public Schools, was the high school Chapter Adviser of the Year, and Megan Helm, Fort Gibson Middle School, was the middle school Chapter Adviser of the Year. McCauley was also elected to serve as president-elect on the National TSA board of directors. She will serve as president in 2026-27.
Tara Dye received the Distinguished Alumni Award, and Tami Redus, Oklahoma TSA adviser with Oklahoma CareerTech, was recognized for more than five years of service.
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: Oklahoma’s Workforce Leader
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 63 campuses, 395 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.
