ACCOMPLISHMENTS
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The Technology Student Association (aka TSA)!
The Technology Student Association is a national competition that I've participated in for 5 years! Since the year I was eligible to join! (You have to be a middle or high schooler to join).
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It's a competition focused on, what else, technology! There are different events you can participate in, which are each focused on some technology or career aspect.
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A few of the events I've participated in are: Children's Stories, Prepared Speech, and Leadership Strategies. I'll explain more in depth what they are later
Career Prep
This one is one of my favorites. Career Prep.
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Overview: It's a middle school and a high school Washington only event (no nationals).
You choose a job based on fields that are given, then write a resume and a cover letter (fake, of course).
If you get past semi-finals, you give an interview to a panel of judges.
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I did this one in my 8th and 9th grade year, and in my 9th grade year I won first place!
Tips, tricks etc.:
Practice practice practice. When you're practicing for your interview, do it with a real person, and have them surprise you with questions. Look at several resumes and the conventions of a resume before you write yours, and make a timeline so you can plan out where you want your persona to have a job, go to school, internships, all the sorts.
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It was really fun to do, and it paid off, because I was able to get a real job with the skills I learned from this event!
Leadership Strategies
Leadership Strategies is a middle school TSA competition. It is on-the-spot, so no previous preparation! Teams (2-6) will be given a prompt with a problem to solve and be given 15 minutes to prepare an answer and a presentation (no visuals needed, just speaking), then they must give a 3-5 minute presentation.
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Now, that's just the overview, not the juicy information I know you want!
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So here it is! My thoughts:
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It was really fun, and interesting, although it was a bit nerve-wracking, having to create a whole plan to solve a problem in 15 minutes. But once you get the hang of it, it becomes much easier, just like everything else in life.
Children's Stories
Children's Stories. It's exactly what it sounds like. A story written for children.
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These stories are written around a theme, usually with an interactive element, like a pop-up, or a puzzle.
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When I was in middle school, it was to teach kids about what Thermal Energy was in accordance with weather. It was really cool (we wrote about a school in Ireland).
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Sometimes it's about children going on an adventure, or learning perseverance and leadership, or about STEM careers. Currently (2025) it's about children learning about what TSA is.
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My insights:
Super super fun. We needed to find a plot really quickly though, and decide and finalize it, because all the work goes into actually writing, illustrating, and then binding the book. And you only have a select amount of time to do all of that, AND your normal school work.
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It was worth it though (we won!).
Prepared Speech
Prepared Speech is a middle school event (turns into Extemporaneous Speech in high school). It's also exactly how it sounds, a speech which is prepared in advance.
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When I did it, the theme was Together towards Tomorrow. It was during the pandemic, you know how it is.
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Tips, Tricks, etc:
Organization and Structure. My TSA Advisor told me to do in a Opening, Body, Conclusion type of way.
She said "Tell me what you are going to tell me. Tell me. Tell me what you told me". This structure is actually something I've used in more than just speeches. Essays, presentations, all of these I use this format.
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This event was also pretty fun. I like speaking, and it's pretty easy for me, so this event was a perfect fit. It's not for everyone though.
That's all!
Hopefully I can participate in some more and tell you all about them!
