On April 23rd, the State High TSA Chapter (Technology Student Association) competed at the 47th annual state conference at Seven Springs Mountain Resort. TSA offers a wide range of events for students to compete in, such as Audio Podcasting, STEM Mass Media, and even Board Game Design.
Students who reached state level after progressing from regionals were given the opportunity to compete against others in the state.
State High had six groups take the title of state champions this year, in the following events: Audio Podcasting, Debating Technological Issues, Manufacturing Prototype, Board Game Design, STEM Mass Media and Technology Bowl.
These groups included Catherine Ma, Purvi Narayanan, and Katherine Su in Audio Podcasting; Margo Wyckoff, Harper House, Sienna Sullivan, and Isabelle McSweeney in Board Game Design; Sienna Sullivan and Isabelle McSweeney in Debating Tech Issues; Riyaz Giri and Benny Gulis in Manufacturing Prototype; Catherine Ma, Purvi Narayanan, and Caitlyn Tan in STEM Mass Media; and lastly, Leo Wang, Noah Handford, and William Zhang in Technology Bowl.
Senior Isabelle McSweeney, who placed first among two team events, Debating Technological Issues and Board Game Design, spoke about experiencing TSA States.
“TSA states is a very fun experience. You get a lot of freedom to do a lot of things,” McSweeney said. “People participate in their events and that being said, in person, I did a presentation at chapter team and debating technology issues.”
State High also had significant leadership roles awarded and represented this year. At the 2025 State Election, sophomore Natalie Branstetter and junior Melinda Wu were elected as PA-TSA State Secretary and Treasurer, respectively. These accomplishments mark the 5th consecutive year that State High has had a state-level leadership role in TSA.
In addition to new members of the state team, senior Harper House, current PA-TSA secretary, helped to host the State Conference.
Freshmen Catherine Ma, Purvi Narayanan and Caitlyn Tan placed first in their STEM Mass Media event, which specializes in creating a news story to convey to a large audience, encompassing the ability to be sufficient in written and verbal communication skills.
TSA allows students to interact with their teammates, find out what they excel both personally and professionally, and gives them significant experience in competition and research. Ma spoke about how her event has impacted her.
“The thing I’ve enjoyed the most about my event is working with my teammates in a collaborative environment as well as doing the event, coming up with solutions, and executing it,” Ma said “I think it has really shaped me of how I am as a person and I really enjoy doing it.”
“We get to find out by working on these events what we’re good at and what we can improve on as a person, technically and personally. It’s a good way to find out what you like and what you want to do when you grow up,” Narayanan said.
TSA had many notable achievements at the state conference, which can be attributed to the hard-working students of the club and adviser, Chip Crawford.
Members who placed at the state conference will have the opportunity to compete at nationals, in Nashville, TN, this summer.
