Bennett’s Mill Middle students brought home top 10 victories in three categories at the Georgia Technology Student Association (TSA) State Leadership Conference that took place in Athens back in March.
The team of Joshua White and Elliot Cap took first place honors in technical design. In this competition, students demonstrate their ability to use the technical design process to solve an engineering design problem onsite, and then present the team’s solution in a portfolio at the conference.
Joshua White was also named an “outstanding student,” placing seventh in the individual division.
Additionally, Yency Medina Morel placed sixth in CAD foundations, an event where students have the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of CAD fundamentals as they create a two-dimensional graphic representation of an engineering part or object.
The team of Kylee Eskew and Jeffery Reyes placed sixth in inventions and innovations. In this competition, students investigate and determine the need for an invention or innovation of a device, system, or process, and brainstorm ideas for a possible solution. Teams prepare an interactive display and model/prototype. Semifinalists make an oral presentation to a panel of judges (who act as venture capitalist investors) to persuade the panel to invest in their invention/innovation.
Engineering teacher Susan Hall is the TSA advisor at Bennett’s Mill Middle.
Bennett’s Mill was the only school in Fayette that had students place at the state competition. All of the students qualified to advance to the national competition that was slated to take place in Nashville, Tennessee this summer, but is now canceled due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic.
The TSA conferences consist of leadership development and over 75 competitive events for middle and high school students that provide them opportunities beyond the traditional classroom/laboratory setting. Students win trophies, finalist pins, and receive critical feedback for future competitions.
