Nolan Middle, Braden River High students advance to national TSA competition

EAST MANATEE -- Students from two Manatee County schools are headed to the national Technology Student Association competition after placing first in their respective categories at the state level during the weekend.

Nolan Middle School won the middle school portion of the state TSA competition for the sixth year in a row. Forty-one students competed in 31 categories, securing 14 first-place, 14 second-place and five third-place finishes to go with 40 top-10 placements.

Braden River High School won the high school portion for the third year in a row with 37 students competing in 31 categories. BRHS students won nine first-place, 10 second-place and six third-place awards with 40 top-10 finishes.

The teams head to Texas at the end of June to represent Manatee County and the state.

"Manatee County is the dominant force in the state and in the country," said Gil Burlew, the BRHS adviser who sits on the Florida TSA Board.

Students competed in a number of areas ranging from creating speedy lightweight cars, building robots to lift and move cubes with precision and making presentations on new medical advancements.

Megan Peters and Cassandra Atzrodt, 13-year-old eighth-graders at Nolan, won first place overall for a project on xenotransplantation, a procedure that would help reduce the number of people on the transplant list by cultivating human organs grown from pigs.

"The concept is being researched by big universities," Cassandra said, but a number of ethical and medical concerns must be addressed first.

Cassandra and Megan examined those issues in their project, which they will update before the national competition, creating a bigger and better board and continuing their research using feedback from the state judges.

Cassandra and Megan have been on the Nolan team since sixth grade. They credit dedicated teachers and advisers, Margi Nanney and Justin Devine, as well as their fellow students for their success.

"We're really lucky," Megan said.

At Braden River High School, 14-year-old freshmen Evan Lynch and Jordan Conelias built a robot to claim first place. The students' robot built a 5-foot tower using a series of seven pegs.

Evan, who Burlew called a master builder, said the hardest part was building a lift to go that high.

"It's a lot of fun and a lot of real-life experience," Jordan said.

They said they, too, plan to make improvements for the national TSA competition.

Meghin Delaney, education reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7081. Follow her on Twitter @MeghinDelaney.

This story was originally published March 3, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Nolan Middle, Braden River High students advance to national TSA competition."