The TSA state convention was held in Bozeman April 8 and 9 of this year. Attending as a photographer was very fun. I got to see the events, take pictures of the kids building and testing their projects, and also be there to see their smiles when the award ceremony came at the end of the second day. At first, I thought I was only going as a photographer and spectator, but Hunter James, TSA adviser at Park High, signed me up for the problem solving event. It consisted of building the tallest tower possible where a ping pong ball had to stand on top of it while being blown by a fan for 15 seconds. Materials were provided and consisted of sheets of paper, paper and plastic straws, popsicles sticks, glue and a table tennis ball.

 Afterwards, other events happened and soon came the closing and awards ceremonies where Ben Strong placed 1st for the CO2 powered dragster race, 3rd for Computer Aided Design Engineering. Connor Hawthorne placed 1st in High School coding. Cole Hawthorne, placed 3rd in the CO2 powered dragster race and Tate Bekedam paced 2nd in sticker design.