Last week, Clay County Middle School and Clay County High School TSA traveled to Orlando, FL, to compete in the National TSA competition.

Seth Stover competed in Children’s Stories with a pop-up/interactive book he created, “The Need for Bees.” Stover had to create a pop-up, interactive book that incorporated STEM (science, technology, engineering and/or math.) He chose to focus on honeybees due to the relevancy and timelines of the topic.

Stover’s book explains what kinds of flowers honeybees like to get their nectar from, which include lavender, wildflowers, sunflowers, poppies, and buttercups; it explains what worker honeybees are supposed to do — collect nectar — and how they use the nectar to make honey, which is their specialty. It goes on to explain how honeybees also pollenate other plants to help them produce fruits and how the whole process goes and how important each step in the process of honeybees is.

Stover chose to compete in this group competition as an individual. He worked many long, hard hours, as well as his other roles in the National TSA competition. He is the only individual winner from Clay County. Stover qualified for the Top 12 at nationals and then had to go through an interview process where he read his book to the judges.

Stover earned third place in the nation. Congratulations to Stover for his accomplishments.

What a great book!