At the end of March, Clay County Middle School and Clay County High School TSA teams traveled to Cedar Lakes in Ripley, WV for state competition.
Led by their advisor Jessica Ramsey, thirty nine middle school and twenty-six high school students, a total of sixty-five students, boarded two yellow school buses and headed to victory. TSA is the Technology Students Association. TSA is a student organization where students work and learn about STEM, or the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. The competitions are all strategy, problem solving or researched based. Each of the students worked many hours perfecting their projects. Their hard work and dedication paid off. This year’s conference theme was Model the Way, and our students certainly have Modeled The Way for success. Clay County Middle captured nine first place, ten second place, and nine third place victories. Clay County High School had all twenty-six students place, capturing three first place, six second place, and three third place finishes. Clay Middle was also recognized as a LEAP Legacy Chapter finalist and earned the right to compete at the National TSA Conference for Outstanding LEAP Legacy Chapter. In total, twenty-one middle school students and twelve high school students earned the honor of attending the national TSA competition in Washington D.C. from June 28 to July 2, 2019. State winners were as follows:
Clay County Middle School State Winners
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1st Place Winners
Challenging Tech Issues Holt Dawson , Sawyer Dobbins
Construction Challenge Holt Dawson, Hunter Evans, Jack Haverty, Brady Jones, Ethan Nottingham, Jacob Morton
Chapter Team Holt Dawson, Hunter Evans, Kylie Taylor, Maddy Paxton, Dylan McCumbers, Maggie Smith
Inventions and Innovations Lillian Meadows, Maggie Smith Laila Varney
Leadership Strategies Kylie Taylor, Chrissy Brown, Elizabeth Young
Prepared Speech Sawyer Dobbins
System Control Technology Hunter Evans, Josh Walker, Try Lindenthall
Video Game Design Dylan Mccumbers, Hunter Evans, Josh Walker
Website Design Sawyer Dobbins, Nath Smith
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2nd Place Winners
Challenging Tech Issues Ethan Morris, Hunter Evans
Children’s Stories Lexie Gilliland
Construction Challenge Trey Lindenthall, Josh Walker, Kain Osburn, Earle Boggs
Inventions and Innovations Lexi Gilliland, Chrissy Brown, Paris Williams
Leadership Strategies Holt Dawson, Sawyer Dobbins, Jack Haverty
Mass Production Dylan McCumbers, Ashdon Salisbury, Morgan Payton, Kerrith Holcomb, Charlie Phillips
Medical Technology Lilly Goldizen, Taylor Owens, Paris Williams, Kylie Taylor
Prepared Speech Maddy Paxton
Technology Bowl Lexie Gilliland, Ethan Morris, Trey Lindenthall
Technical Design Trey Lindenhall, Josh Walker
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3rd Place Winners
Career Prep Elizabeth Young
Challenging Tech Issues Charlie Phillips, Ashdon Salisbuy
Community Service Video Holt Dawson, Micah Osborne, Nath Smith, Jacob Morton, Jack Haverty
Forensics Kylie Taylor, Chrisistina Brown
Leadership Strategies Lexie Gilliland, Taylor Owens, Paris Williams
Mass Production Trey Lindinthall, Earle Boggs, Ethan Morris
Off the Grid Taylor Adkins, Megan Osborne
Prepared Speech Laila Varney
Problem Solving Jack Haverty, Silas Burdette
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Clay County High School State Winners
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1st Place Winners
Chapter Team Hunter Jones, Tailynn Varney, Matt Shelton, Caleb Atha, Nicholas Evans, Micheal Willis
Digital Video Production Clare Dawson, Tailynn Varney, Chloe Jones, Jacob Schoolcraft, Andrew Adkins
Tech Bowl Oral Jefferson Hymer, Micheal Willis, Monny Holcomb
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2nd Place Winners
Computer Integrated Manufacturing Ava Taylor, Ivy Taylor, MaKenna Brown
Fashion Design Emma Drake, Emilee Deems, Grace Holcomb
Future Tech Teacher Tailynn Varney
System Control Technology Aden Knopp, Jefferson Hymer, Isaiah Payton
Water Bottle Rockets Chris Claypool, Braydon Blanton
Catapult Design Chris Claypool, Braydon Blanton
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3rd Place Winners
Biotechnology Nick Evans, Owen Nottingham
Future Tech Teacher Ben Morton
System Control Technology Curtis Drake, Elijah Payton, Owen Nottingham
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At Cedar Lakes, state officers for the 2019-2020 school year were also elected: Tailynn Varney will serve as State President; Caleb Atha will be State Vice President; and Hunter Jones will serve as State Secretary. Additionally, Holt Dawson, Madison Paxton, Kylie Taylor and Paris Williams were inducted into the Technology Honor Society.
For the seventh year in a row, Clay County Middle School received the honor of being named Outstanding Middle School Chapter in the state of West Virginia. The award is determined by the total number of awards taken away from the conference. Clay County Middle School was also named Chapter of Excellence for the state of West Virginia.
TSA’s success this year did not end at the state competition. On June 27, thirty-two total students, 12 from Clay County High School and 20 from Clay County Middle, traveled to Washington, D.C. to compete in the national competition. Thousands of students from across the nation competed over five days. Clay County Middle had 17 students make it to the semi-finals, meaning they were among the top twelve in the nation in their respective events. The top ten in each event are recognized as finalists at the awards ceremony on the final day of the competition. Clay Middle had 16 students recognized as finalists on stage. Holt Dawson, eighth grade, and Sawyer Dobbins, sixth grade, won second place in the nation in Challenging Technology Issues. Seventh graders Lilly Meadows, Maggie Smith and Laila Varney placed fourth in Inventions and Innovations. Eighth graders Holt Dawson, Jack Haverty, Brady Jones, Jacob Morton, Hunter Evans and seventh grader Ethan Nottingham placed seventh in Construction Challenge. Additionally, Clay Middle was a National LEAP Legacy Chapter finalist. The legacy representatives were Holt Dawson, Lexi Gilliland, Paris Williams, Maddy Paxton, Ethan Morris and Kylie Taylor. Finally, Sawyer Dobbins was a semifinalist in Prepared Speech.
Notably, Holt Dawson, Maddy Paxton, Kylie Taylor and Paris Williams were also recognized at the national conference as Technology Honor Society inductees.
Ms. Ramsey is very proud of these students for not only being successful in competition, but for their success in their behavior too. These students are carrying on a strong tradition set by TSA students over the past decade. Ms. Ramsey would also like to thank Mr. Phil Dobbins, Mrs. Lindsay Schoolcraft, Mr. Scott Ramsey, Mr. Barry Payton, Mrs. April Dawson, Mrs. Michelle Paxton, Mrs. Mary Ramsey, Mr. Larry Ramsey, Mrs. Leslie Goe, and Mrs. Mary Ann Triplett for their time and hard work helping students with projects or serving as chaperones along with the parents, grandparents, and family members who help make sure the student’s projects are complete.
They say it takes a village to raise a child, and the same can be said about TSA. It takes a community to bring success and CCMS and CCHS students are fortunate to have that community support. This success would also not be possible without the support of the administrations at Clay County Middle School, Clay County High School, the Clay County Schools Administrative Staff and the Clay County Board of Education. We thank you!
