The annual regional TSA competition was held March 9 at Mount Vernon High School. Eight FHS participants placed within the top 10 positions, and three placed within the top three. All participants within the top three positions will be moving on to the state competition on May 3 at the Richmond Convention Center.
“We’d been preparing for the competition since September,” technology department head Harold Mullins said. “We would meet every week on Thursday. [Jamell Newman and I] would give them opportunities to come in and prepare for the contest. They had to go through all the rubrics for all the different levels of competition. The students learn a lot on their own, and we just point them in the direction they need to take.”
Students participated in five different categories of the competition. Senior Tony Frank placed first in the category of promotional graphics; he used Photoshop to create a poster advertising one of the other competitive categories.
“I didn’t totally expect to win at first, but my friends saw all the other entries, and they told me I was a shoe-in,” Frank said. “I’ve been participating in TSA for two years now, and this is my second time placing within the top three positions in a regional competition.”
Also receiving top placements were sophomores Dana Lahman (first in CAD 2D Architecture), Zoe Waide (second in CAD 2D Architecture), and Elle DelGallo (second in promotional graphics).