Local students were big winners at the Georgia Technology Student Association (TSA) State Leadership Conference. 

The remarkable event brought middle and high school students from across Georgia together in Athens to “Tune Into Technology” and showcase their talents in over 80 competitive events emphasizing innovation, teamwork, and leadership. 

Bennett’s Mill Middle competed in 32 events and had finalists in 22 of those. 

Amari Kemp won 1st place for Promotional Marketing, the duo of Amari Kemp and Maximus Kemp won 1st for Off the Grid, and the trio of Kaden Jawwaad, Trianna Ha, and Julian Purifoy won 1st for Tech Bowl. 

The duo of Amari and Maximus Kemp also placed 2nd for Community Service, and the duo of Rafael Mondesir and Julian Purifoy placed 2nd for Electrical Applications. 

The duo of Leah Hill and Kaden Jawwaad placed 3rd for Challenging Technology Issue. 

The Broncos finished 5th overall in the state out of nearly 50 chapters and won a grant with TW VR headsets to develop a 3D game for SPARC Research Labs in North Georgia. 

Starr’s Mill High was also well represented, with two Panther teams making the podium in their competitions. 

The trio of Joshua Jiang, Mitt Patel, and Jagad Krishnan placed 2nd in Engineering Design. 

They placed 3rd in Virtual Reality Visualization with the team of Michael Panait, Liam Bell, Alessandro Santin, Ryan Sexton, Emily Szoke, and John Bostick. 

All 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finishers qualify for nationals in Nashville this June. 

Along with top placements, two students were elected to state officer positions. Bennett’s Mill 7th grader Kaden Jawwaad was elected to serve as State 2nd Vice-President, and Starr’s Mill freshman Liam Bell was elected to serve as the State Sergeant-At-Arms.