Sophomore Sam Whittington participated in the Technology Student Association three day state contest held in Waco Texas. Sam placed first in the high school 71-110 State Area with an individual high point of 466.

“With all my points added up I got the highest points in Texas State at the high school level. I got to walk across a stage in front of like 3,000 people and shake the TSA president’s hand and get a scholarship for $1,000 to any college,” Whittington said.

TSA’s contest includes photography, woodworking, marketing, robotics, metalworking, drafting, architecture, building pens & tables, laser engrave CNC router and other things involving marketing or engineering products.

“I did 5 photography, a written exam, CO2 cars, serval CNC routers, laser engraver and nine of my projects placed first out of 18 which is pretty good,” Whittington said. “The project I’m most proud of is the laser engraver 8 by 10 mountains, because it had the most competition. There were tons of kids competing in that area.”

This experience has caused Sam to come to school early every morning and stay after school to work on his different projects.

“The completion was extremely fun because it allowed me to see different projects and it also gave me new ideas for next year,” Whittington said. “The TSA state competition gave me a perfect opportunity to get scholarship money and to make good friends. TSA has caused me to try harder when building my projects, thus making me gain more experience and skills in wood working.”