On March 20, the Clay County Middle School and Clay County High School TSA teams traveled to Cedar Lakes in Ripley for the WV State Competition. Led by their Advisor Jessica Ramsey, 45 students made the trip, 26 from the middle school, and 19 from the high school.
TSA is the Technology Students Association. It 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 research based. Each student worked many hours perfecting projects. Their hard work and dedication paid off.
This year’s conference theme was Evolution of Excellence, and our students certainly excelled. Clay County Middle captured 14 first place, 10 second place, and four third place victories. CCMS was 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 High School captured 10 first place, six second place, and three third place finishes. CCHS placed second overall. In total, 28 students earned the honor to compete at the national TSA competition in Orlando, Florida from June 26 to June 30, 2024. State winners were as follows:
Clay County Middle School State Winners
1st Place Winners: Biotechnology – Marissa Atha, McKinley Mahan and Layla Stewart; Catapult Design – Asher Dorsey and Trenton Parker; Career Prep – Gunner Dobbins; Challenging Tech Issues – Gunner Dobbins and Trenton Parker; Community Service Video – Gunner Dobbins and Trenton Parker; Construction Challenge – Bailey Frame and Autumn Rapp; Children’s Stories – Madison Holcomb and Addison Jones; Digital Photography – Abigail Grandon; Inventions and Innovations – Bailey Frame, McKinley Mahan and Roxy Schoolcraft; Off the Grid- Avhyn Davison and Abigail Grandon; Prepared Speech – Gunner Dobbins; Problem Solving – Canaan Payton and Cheyenne Adkins; STEM Animation – Lyla Hunt and Jayda Woods; and Tech Design- Marissa Atha and Roxy Schoolcraft.
2nd Place Winners: Chapter Team – Cheyenne Adkins, Brooke Cliver, Ahvyn Davison, Abigail Grandon and Gabe Shamblin; Digital Photography – Brooke Cliver; Inventions and Innovations – Cade Hamrick, Jacob Vance and Owen Potasnik; Leadership Strategies – Cade Hamrick, John Paxton and Autumn Rapp; Mechanical Engineering – John Paxton and Autumn Rapp; Medical Technology – Bailey Frame and Roxy Schoolcraft; Prepared Speech – Cheyenne Adkins; Promotional Marketing – Gunner Dobbins; System Control – McKinley Mahan, Jacob Vance and Canaan Payton; and Tech Bowl – Lyla Hunt, Jayda Woods and Gabe Shamblin.
3rd Place Winners: Logo Design – Jayda Woods; Children’s Stories – Brooke Cliver and Abigail Grandon; Leadership Strategies – Abigail Grandon, Brooke Cliver and Lyla Hunt; and Mechanical Engineering – Alex Holcomb and Madison Holcomb.
Clay County High School State Winners
1st Place Winners: Chapter Team – Taylor Adkins, Morgan Payton, Jaxon Brown, Adrianna Belt, Juliann Gallaher and Dylan McCumbers; Debating Technological Issues – Isaac Brown and Sawyer Dobbins; Digital Video Production – Sawyer Dobbins and Ariel Dobbins; Extemporaneous Speech – Parker Taylor; Forensic Technology – Avery Broulliard; Future Technology Teacher – Ariel Dobbins; Geospatial Technology – Taylor Adkins, Jaxon Brown and Morgan Payton; Music Production – Jaxon Brown; Promotional Design – Ariel Dobbins; and Video Game Design – Dylan McCumbers and Juliann Gallaher.
2nd Place Winners: Audio Podcasting – Sawyer Dobbins and Nathan Wynn; Board Game Design – Taylor Adkins, Isaac Brown, Morgan Payton and Dylan McCumbers; Data Science – Jaxon Brown; Future Tech Teacher – Juliann Gallaher; Tech Bowl – Alex Davison, Dylan McCumbers and Parker Taylor; Technology Problem Solving – Ilyauna Evans and Cadence Williams
3rd Place Winners: Children’s Stories – Ariel Dobbins; Forensic Technology – Ayden Brown and Summer Corwell; and Photographic Technology – Jaxon Brown.
At Cedar Lakes, state officers for the 2024-2025 school year were also elected: Morgan Payton will serve as State Vice President and Juliann Gallaher will be State Secretary. Morgan is retiring as secretary for the current school year and Taylor Adkins is retiring as sergeant-at-arms.
Ms. Ramsey is very proud of these students for not only being successful in competition, but for their success in their behavior too. They are carrying on a strong tradition set by TSA students over the past decade. Ms. Ramsey would also like to thank Mrs. Lindsay Schoolcraft, Ms. Elizabeth Gallaher, Mr. Mike Kiser, and Mrs. Luella Dancy 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 students’ 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!
