On the days of February 19-21st, Overland’s Technology Student Association (TSA) club attended the TSA state competition at the Gaylord Rockies Resort and Convention Center. TSA is known for being a club focusing on STEM-related careers and building students’ teamwork skills. Some related fields include architecture, construction, computer science, and interior design, among others. A total of 14 Blazers attended, and many made it to the semifinals, along with some groups even making the top 5, representing and making Overland proud.
A high-achieving student during this competition was Ikran Abdullahi, a Sophomore who has been in TSA since 8th grade. Abdullahi competed in a total of 5 events: Silent Movie, Children’s Story, Audio Podcasting, On-Demand Video, and Biotechnology Design. For the children’s story, her group had to brainstorm ideas and then design the book. They made the illustrations on Canva and then printed them out to make the physical copy of the book. For audio podcasting, silent movie, and on-demand video, her group had to create scripts and decide which team member said each line and part. Abdullahi was able to use TSA sponsor and OTV Teacher Mr. Sedlmayr’s equipment to record the podcast and the silent movie. With biotechnology design, it included mostly research that was then transferred onto the board to present their design. She worked with a group for every event.
When asked about the obstacles she faced, Abdullahi answered, “In each event, there are a lot of obstacles. I feel like the main thing…was actually communicating with my team members and figuring out things from there. We had to keep each other accountable and work hard to include all of our ideas and come to a consensus.” This is a prime example of why TSA preaches encouraging students to work in groups to help build their communication and teamwork skills. There will undoubtedly be obstacles and confrontations in the process, but those things can contribute to having a successful journey at the competition.
When looking over all her events, Abdullahi said she didn’t put in a lot of work into the silent movie as opposed to biotechnology design. When it was time for awards, she states,
“Biotechnology design was the first thing that got announced. And when I heard that we didn’t even get top 5, especially after we were very confident about it and we put a lot of effort into it, I kind of assumed that I wouldn’t get anything else. So when I got called up for the silent movie and actually got first place, it made me really happy as I’ve never gotten first place before.” Abdullahi’s group was the only group to win first place! Audio podcasting also placed 3rd, and she made the semifinals in the rest.
Another student to highlight is Amber Namugenyi, a Sophomore who competed in 3 events: On-Demand Video, Audio Podcasting, and was a part of the winning Silent Movie team. Diving into on-demand video, she states that they were given the theme on the first day at noon, and had until noon the next day to record and submit their video. Namugenyi was in the same audio podcasting and silent movie group as Abdullahi, so the process was the same for those. Namugenyi shared her side of the obstacles faced, saying her groups had to adjust and talk through their problems, and if that didn’t work, they went to the sponsors of the club for their advice. Namugenyi illustrates how teamwork affected the overall project, “Some of us may have had other ideas of how we could have done the project. When we came together, we were able to compromise and also see the shortcomings and…make the best overall projects that we could.”
As stated earlier, Namugenyi won her silent movie event with her group. She talks through how she felt in the moment of winning, “When we got called up, I kind of didn’t believe it at first. For audio podcasting, I didn’t know what we did would have been good enough to place or get top 5. As we got called up…the second time for silent movie, I was like ‘Okay, I know what we did was really good’, so it felt nice being rewarded.”
When reflecting on the whole year and the competition, Namugenyi says that she wishes to have been more involved in the process of audio podcasting. With this, she shares what she learned through TSA this year, “I learned how to work with people better. I think my skills before were pretty good, but I was able to refine them. My time management skills also got better.”
Senior and President of the TSA club, Enkh Undrakh Turtogtokh, competed in 3 events: Computer-Aided Design (CAD) Engineering, Engineering Design, and Biotechnology Design. CAD engineering was an individual event, while the other two were with a group. She shares her preparations for this difficult task, “I kind of just did some studying on my solid work skills, so how to do a rib or a sweep, and how to do different dimensions on a drawing.”
Turtogtokh worked hard for this event, but there’s definitely pressure that comes with competing. She expresses, “When they were announcing the names for CAD engineering, I didn’t even pay attention because I thought I wasn’t going to make the top 5. I wanted to be a perfectionist, and I wanted to finish everything, and I couldn’t, and that’s why I think I did bad, but I realized if you did your best, it is good enough.” Though she had self-doubt, she still managed to place in the top 5 of this event!
Her other two events had similar processes as she had to work with a group for them. Turtogtokh says, “Throughout the year, I was working on my project, doing research, and then prototyping, and then writing a paper about it.”
These two events allowed for more flexibility and time, which made them go more smoothly, as she was able to rely on her teammates to tell her the flaws or positive aspects of her ideas. She also states how communication was a key thing in making progress and being able to feel secure in their project. “…Really coming together and clarifying things and getting things done was difficult, so communication was a big thing.”, Turtogtokh explains. Once again, she got positive results for these events as her group for engineering design placed in the top 5, and her biotechnology design group made it to the semifinals.
While all of this preparation is happening, there are also things happening in the background of being president of the club. She dives deeper into the tasks of being president and what she would’ve done differently, “I just want to make sure that the competition is more accessible for people. I know that the cost was a huge barrier to our attendance, and I want to make sure we do our fundraising. I also wanted more structure so people are held accountable for their projects.” While these problems were present, she tried her best to accommodate everyone and help as much as possible. Overall, she learned the importance of organization and helping everyone to progress forward.
For her final year, Turtogtokh leaves some words for anyone wanting to join and for the future president of TSA, “It’s a really fun experience. You can have fun with your friends and do things at the hotel, but the most important thing is that you’re representing Overland, your project, and, more importantly, yourself. For the next president, just make sure that the environment is serious and productive to be able to get stuff done, to be able to have even more fun later on.”
Congratulations to these three and to all the blazers who placed at the competition! If you’re interested in the STEM field, make sure to join TSA next year.
