Howdy, Texas TSA! My name is Mary Katherine Smith, and I have the wonderful privilege of serving you as your 2019-2020 Texas TSA President.

I am beyond excited for this upcoming year in TSA and cannot wait to see all of the amazing things we will accomplish individually, as well as a state. This year we will continue to grow our social media presence on all networking platforms! The officer team and I believe this is a key part in expanding TSA across all parts of Texas, so make sure to follow all of our accounts! This will help you stay up to date on all the latest news, as well as, keep in touch with chapters across the state. We are also encouraging local involvement on the regional level! We urge each region to have regional officers to help promote leadership in our members. This gives students a real opportunity to embody our motto, “Learning To Lead In A Technical World.” If at any time throughout the year, you have questions please do not hesitate to reach out to the officer team. We are more than happy to help.

The National Conference, State conference and the Kerrville Leadership Camp are all wonderful opportunities to develop friendships with fellow TSA members from all over the state and even the nation. These events allow students to be able to participate and be a part of the true TSA experience! Together we can “Inspire a Shared Vision.”

The State Leadership Team is a group of six individuals chosen based on application by the state officer coordinator. The Leadership Team is responsible for assisting the Texas TSA officers throughout the year, including hosting the annual leadership conference in Kerrville.The main goal of the team is to practice leadership skills in preparation to potentially become a state officer. For more information on how to join the Texas TSA Leadership team, visit the Texas TSA website at www.texastsa.org/student-opportunities/state-officerleadership-team-candidate/

by Gowri Rangu

The 2019 National TSA Conference , “Model the Way," was held June 28–July 2 near Washington, D.C. at the Gaylord National Resort. Texas TSA would like to give a special thanks to all those who competed and represented our state delegation at the national level. We appreciate and recognize all of your hard work. This year we had many students competing in various events and had a total of 54 teams/individuals placing among the top ten in 70 different events!

Texas TSA would also like to acknowledge and give special recognition to the Texas competitors who placed among the top three in the nation for their respective events:

1st Place:

Coding (HS): Martin High School

Dragster Design (HS): Fulshear High School

Engineering Design (HS): Captain John L. Chapin High School

Microcontroller Design (MS): Dr.Hornedo Middle School

On Demand Video (HS): Keller Center for Advanced Learning

Prepared Presentation (HS): Longview High School

SCIVIZ (HS): Lamar Consolidated High School

STEM Animation (MS): South Texas Preparatory Academy

Technology Problem Solving (HS): Bowie High School

2nd Place:

Architectural Design (HS): Bowie High School

Future Technology Teacher (HS): UTRGV Mathematics and Science Academy

Prepared Presentation (HS): Longview High School

3rd Place:

Website Design (MS): Briscoe Jr. High

Texas TSA Programs:

1. Scholarships: Reserved for graduating seniors Texas TSA offers eight scholarships. Two of which going to students one planning on going into a career of teaching and the other wanting to teach CTE/STEM have a chance to earn a $2,500 scholarship. Of these two one will be awarded in memory of W.A. Mayfield(The founding father of Texas TSA) and the other in memory of Al Seher. As well 6 more scholarships will be awarded to students majoring in a field related to CTE/STEM at approved Post-secondary schools for $1,500. One of these scholarships will be awarded in memory of George “Big George” Howle and the others in honor of the founding fathers of ATTE (Association of Texas Technology Education).

2. Advisor of The Year: Every year Texas Tsa students nominate one highschool and one middle school Advisor of The Year. The advisors who were top nominated will be recognized at the National Tsa Conference. In order to nominate, an application has to be finished and emailed to the Executive Director at the executive.director@texastsa.org

3. TSA National Honor Society: Becoming a part of the TSA National Honor Society is for students who are rigorous not only inside the classroom, but also outside of it. This is a feat that stands out on college resumes and is an accomplishment that can help you in the long run.TSA NHS’s goal is to motivate TSA members to work to improve and maintain high academic marks, aid in promoting the undertaking of leadership roles in school and community organizations, to encourage participation in service activities that benefit a school or community, and to recognize student concern for chapter, school, and community.

Small Chapter Goals:

1. Community Service: Being more active within your community and enabling for the opportunity to build a better relationship can be done by simply becoming more involved! This not only will help your chapter better integrate itself as a part of your community, but it will also help your chapter to bond and grow to become more unified.

2. Social Media: Creating social media pages for your chapter is a great way to expand and grow. The most common chapter TSA social media pages are from Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. These platforms help other chapter members be aware of updates and news of what their chapter Officers are up to, and when upcoming events are happening. Another common platform is creating a website. This can help document what your chapter has accomplished, and allow others to become aware of any new information as well. Social media is a great way to allow for greater communication between chapter Officers and chapter members for further character development and growth as a chapter.

As the state leadership team worked through summer training, one of our biggest conversation topics was regional officers! We know our 16 regions are quite different from one another and spread all throughout our great state. As a fast-growing delegation of over 40,000 members, it is an impossible task for just 6 officers to keep up with all of you and give every chapter and member the attention they deserve. With regional officers, we hope to make our delegation run smoother than ever before. Also, this would open the state up to a line of communication that flows more directly to our members. We all wish we could hear each and every one of you out, but unfortunately, that is not always possible. With this newly established team of leaders around the state, however, the state team has about 192 more ears to listen to y’all. 192 more hands to reach out to our chapters and to our 40,000 members.

Our first step in the establishment of these teams is to send out a toolkit to the regions on how to establish regional officers. We cannot do this without y’all though. To our members, express your desire to serve at a higher level. Being a regional officer gives you a wonderful opportunity to 1) serve a wider range of students 2) gain valuable leadership experience 3) network with people from around your area with the same interest as you and serve on a team with them, and 4) get an insight and taste of what it’s like to be a state officer. In a short summary, regional officers will provide an increase in leadership opportunities, stronger member relations, increase in communication across the state, and even more ACS fundraisers! Talk to your advisors and bring it up with your regional coordinators! Express your desire to grow, tell them you’re interested. Be confident in what you want to learn and do. If you have any questions, please reach out to the state officers! We are a student lead organization for a reason! I know y’all have great ambition and strong desires to lead-here’s your chance!

By Savio Le

This year's annual Fall Leadership Conference returns to the Texas Lion’s Camp in the hills of Kerrville, Texas for three fun-filled days of learning and team bonding. This year’s conference theme will revolve around the mission to “Inspire a Shared Vision” and will be from December 5-7.

Returning this year to the conference are the six breakout sessions, six special interest sessions, and the ACS Glowbash, our annual fun-filled dance party that raises money for the American Cancer Society. New to the conference this year is a mandatory regional officer meeting and now, instead of splitting chapters apart, and putting them into new groups, the officer team has decided to keep chapters together for the breakout session for better team bonding. If your region does not have officers, don’t worry, have your chapter send one representative to the meeting. For more info regarding the conference please visit texastsa.org.

10 Kerrville Essentials:

Please refer to weather conditions in Kerrville prior to packing

1. Athletic/ Comfortable clothing

2. Jeans

3. Toiletries

4. Athletic Shoes

5. Sleeping bag or bedspread

6. A jacket

7. Notebook and pen

8. Matching Chapter Clothing

9. Snacks

10. An open-minded, positive attitude!

This October 7th through 11th is National TSA Week and we want you to participate. With the rise of our social media this year we are encouraging all of our Texas TSA members to share their TSA memories via social media! Each day has a different theme and message behind it. Reach out to your chapter and plan something special during the week. Use the hashtag #NationalTSAWeekTxstyle to get featured on Texas’s TSA Instagram or Twitter. The more we post the more we raise awareness about our amazing organization, as well as, reminisce on all of our favorite memories!

Below I have noted what each day means from the National TSA website:

• Member Monday: Share the accomplishments of your TSA chapter.

• Teammate Tuesday: Post a photo of you and your chapter teammate(s), perhaps attending a conference, working together on a competition, conducting a meeting, participating in a leadership session or community service, etc.

• Why TSA Wednesday: Post a photo that represents why you are a part of TSA.

• Throwback Thursday: Post a favorite TSA photo of you and/or your chapter from your early years in TSA, perhaps attending your first TSA conference or working on your first competition.

• Forever TSA Friday: Post a collage of your TSA chapter photos.

I cannot wait to see what all you share and to learn more about your personal experience in TSA!