Kittatinny students win at national TSA event

NEWTON — Seven seniors from Kittatinny Regional High School competed in the recent Technology Student Association (TSA) national convention in Nashville, TN. Representing the state of New Jersey, Kittatinny students earned both a first place award and a fourth place award in the category of Scientific Visualization (SciViz). The SciViz category calls for students to compete using a graphical representation of complex scientific concepts. Participants need to develop a visualization focusing in the areas of science, technology, engineering or mathematics. The purpose is to communicate, inform, analyze and illustrate a topic, idea, subject or concept. Taking first place in the nation was a team of four Kittatinny students: Matt Lavine, Tom Straulina, Jeremy Stolk and Tyler Wilson. Two of these students (Straulina and Stolk) could not attend this year’s national conference. The team had earned the right to represent New Jersey after winning first place in their category at the state conference in March. The title of their winning animation was Periodic Table: A Brief Introduction. Taking fourth place in the nation was a second team of Kittatinny students made up of three students, Chris Avarella, Rudi Hanz, and Katie Schoen One student (Avarella) could not attend this year’s conference. The team had earned the right to represent New Jersey after winning third place in their category at the state conference in March. The title of their winning animation was Gravity: An Introduction. Another senior, Rebecca Dey, entered an onsite program entitled “The Student Leadership Challenge” which provided five different leadership training classes for students to participate in individual challenges. Dey was one of approximately 30 people who were able to complete the entire program which was designed to help students become better leaders. TSA is the only national organization that is devoted entirely to students interested in technology. Over 4,500 students from all over the country, as well as Germany and Turkey, descended on the Nashville convention to compete in over 70 high school and middle school events.