The 2022 Pennsylvania Technology Student Association State Conference recently yielded success for the Park Forest Middle School and State College Area High School TSA chapters.
Park Forest claimed eight first places while State High won six categories and, for the first time in school history, had three students become state officers. Mount Nittany Middle School currently does not have an active TSA chapter.
Park Forest’s state champions were:
- Natalie Branstetter, Children’s Stories
- Melinda Wu and Leo Wang, Data Science and Analytics
- Leo Wang, Foundations of Information Technology
- Natalie Branstetter, Luke Bradbury, Theo Oppermann, Anthony Olsson, Inventions and Innovations
- Natalie Branstetter, Luke Bradbury, Theo Oppermann, Microcontroller Design
- Leo Ling, Leo Wang, Ian Lei, Technology Bowl Challenge
- Yuer Gao and Melinda Wu, Technical Design
- Benny Gulis and Westin Lenkey, Video Game Design
In addition, Park Forest students were runner-ups in three events:
- Natalie Branstetter, Career Prep
- Ian Lei, Leo Wang, Leo Ling, Website Design
- Leo Wang, Technology Bowl-Written
Park Forest also took home five third-place finishes and 13 additional Top 10 finishes. Other competitors were Gaby Meredith, Marcela Reyes Porro, Esme Shea, Linda Wang and Emerson Wilson.
State High’s state champions were:
- Margo Wyckoff, Promotional Design
- Noah Hanford, Technology Bowl-Written
- Mary Lambert, Daniel Liu, Miriam Ruback, Biotechnology Design
- Rik Bhattacharya, Luc Schrauf, Biotechnology Design
- Isabelle McSweeney, Margo Wyckoff, Data Science and Analytics
- Daniel Salvia, Ryan Wales, Computer Integrated Manufacturing
Ruback, Brynn Bortree and Nathan Waite placed second in Architectural Design. Third places went to Hanford, Bhattacharya and Elijah Adu in Technology Bowl, Jeffrey Su in Extemporaneous Presentation, and Maeve Flanagan and Cate Saylor in PA-Electronic Research & Exp.
During the conference, Ruback and Adu were elected to the State Officer Team as, respectively, treasurer and sergeant-at-arms. Newly-elected state officers then appointed Wyckoff to be historian. As state officers, the trio will help represent more than 5,000 TSA students, act as chairs of statewide committees and plan the 2023 state conference. They also will lead the state delegation at the TSA national competition in Dallas, Texas, in June.
By Chris Rosenblum
