Last week, the Clay County Middle School and Clay County High School TSA teams traveled to Cedar Lakes in Ripley, West Virginia for state competition. Led by their Advisor Jessica Ramsey, 35 students in total, 17 middle school students and 18 high school, made the trip.
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. This year’s conference theme was A Legacy of Innovation. Each of the students worked many hours perfecting their projects. Their hard work and dedication paid off. Clay Middle captured eight first place, six second place, and seven third place victories. Clay High won six first place, six second place, and two third place awards. Clay Middle achieved second place Overall Outstanding Chapter, and Clay High won third place Overall Outstanding Chapter.
State officers for the 2023-2024 school year were also elected. From CCHS, Morgan Payton will serve as Secretary and Taylor Adkins will be Sergeant at Arms. Additionally, seven Clay students were inducted into the Technology Honor Society: Ariel Dobbins and Julianna Gallaher from CCMS, and Taylor Adkins, Holt Dawson, Dylan McCumbers, Maddy Paxton, and Morgan Payton from CCHS. Finally, Mrs. April Dawson won the Honorary Lifetime Member Award.
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 Mr. Phil Dobbins, Mr. Alex Keiffer, Mrs. April Dawson, Ms. Lindsey Schoolcraft, and Ms. Clare Dawson for their time and hard work helping students with projects and 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 Middle, Clay High, the Clay County Schools Administrative Staff and the Clay County Board of Education. We thank you!
In total, eight middle school students and eleven high school students earned the honor of attending the national TSA competition in Louisville, Kentucky from June 28 to July 2, 2023. State winners were as follows:
Clay County Middle School State Winners
| 1st Place Winners
Challenging Technology Issues Ariel Dobbins, Juliann Gallaher Children’s Stories Ariel Dobbins Community Service Video Juliann Gallaher, Abigail Grandon Construction Challenge Bailey Frame, Roxy Schoolcraft Leadership Strategies Adrianna Belt, Juliann Gallaher, Abigail Grandon Medical Technology Bailey Frame, Roxy Schoolcraft Problem Solving Cheyenne Adkins, Brooke Cliver STEM Animation Ariel Dobbins, Juliann Gallaher |
2nd Place Winners
Chapter Team Cheyenne Adkins, Adrianna Belt, Brooke Cliver, Ariel Dobbins, Juliann Gallaher, Gabe Shamblin Children’s Stories Cheyenne Adkins, Brooke Cliver Digital Photography Brooke Cliver Forensics Technology Adrian Davison, Presley Shamblin Inventions and Innovations Bailey Frame, Cade Hamrick, McKinley Mahan, Roxy Schoolcraft Prepared Speech Ariel Dobbins |
3rd Place Winners
Career Prep Adrianna Belt Coding Adrian Davison, Presley Shamblin Digital Photography Abigail Grandon Leadership Strategies Adrian Davison, McKinley Mahan, Presley Shamblin Prepared Speech Abigail Grandon Technical Design Ahyvn Davison, Diego Metheney Technology Bowl Brooke Cliver, Diego Metheney, Gabe Shamblin |
Clay County High School State Winners
| 1st Place Winners
Chapter Team Taylor Adkins, Gracey Champ, Holt Dawson, Dylan McCumbers, Maddy Paxton, Morgan Payton Children’s Story Taylor Adkins, Isaac Brown, Maddy Paxton Debating Technological Issues Holt Dawson, Sawyer Dobbins Future Technology Teacher Gracey Champ Prepared Presentation Sawyer Dobbins System Control Technology Hunter Evans, Ilyauna Evans, Cadence Williams |
2nd Place Winners
Audio Podcasting Sawyer Dobbins Data Science and Analytics Jaxon Brown Extemporaneous Speaking Holt Dawson Music Production Jaxon Brown Technology Problem Solving Jaxon Brown, Morgan Payton Video Game Design Isaac Brown, Gracey Champ, Dylan McCumbers |
3rd Place Winners
Digital Video Production Taylor Adkins, Gracey Champ, Holt Dawson, Maddy Paxton, Morgan Payton Photographic Technology Jaxon Brown |
