More than 50 different events will be hosted at the Conestoga Valley School District school giving students the opportunity to qualify for the TSA state conference in April at the Seven Springs Resort in Champion, Westmoreland County. The district has hosted the annual conference every year since 2014 — except for 2020 when the conference was virtual — according to the Conestoga Valley TSA middle school advisor and art teacher Chris Miller, who is also the region's conference director.
TSA is a national organization of students interested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics — or STEM — and who have completed technology education courses. It includes more than 300,000 middle and high school students.
TSA is for any student, Miller said. "Because we're giving them problem-solving skills — we just find what interests them to help them develop those problem-solving skills," he said.
Pennsylvania TSA contains nine regions which host eight regional conferences annually. Lancaster County belongs to region two, with 280 students from 15 schools across seven county districts participating Saturday.
Miller, a 1992 Conestoga Valley graduate, said he started the district's middle school TSA chapter in 1999. The high school chapter, to which Miller belonged, was established in 1978.
Attendance at the region six conference continues to rise and is approaching pre-COVID levels, with this year's attendance a significant increase over the more than 200 students who attended last year's event.
Prior to COVID, the peak attendance was 425 students.
TSA STUDENTS PREPARE FOR CONFERENCE
Conestoga Valley High School freshman Evan Harner attended the regional TSA conference for the first time last year as an eighth grader.
"I really enjoyed it," Harner said. "I'm planning on doing it through my whole high school career."
Harner is one of 19 students on the Conestoga Valley High School TSA team. His interest in technology not only as a hobby but a potential career choice drew him to the club.
"The biggest thing that I'm hearing from industry is one, we need kids with a good work ethic, but two, we need kids that are flexible," Miller said. "We need some independent thinkers but some kids who can also work well with others. It's a wide variety of skill sets we're helping develop for the student that's participating in TSA."
After high school, Harner said he wants to go into either computer engineering or computer science so he focuses on coding and computer-related TSA events. For example, he and two other students will work together Saturday to build a robot and program it by developing code in a two-hour time span.
"This year I'm planning on focusing a lot more, spending more time on improving my abilities," Harner said.
Every year, Miller said almost all of the Conestoga Valley students either place in the events they register for and proceed to the state conference. Harner said his team has been practicing and he's confident in the team's ability to advance to the state competition in April.
IF YOU GO
Where: Conestoga Valley High School, 2110 Horseshoe Road, Lancaster, Pa
When: 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., Jan. 27
Cost: Free
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