Congratulations to the students of Cascade K-8 Community School, Einstein Middle School, and Shorecrest and Shorewood high schools who competed at the Washington Technology Students Association (WTSA) Conference! The large teams, ranging from 24 to 63 students, spent an inspiring four days in Spokane, WA, competing against secondary students from across the state.

A special shout-out goes to Einstein Science Teacher Mary Thurber, who was named Middle School TSA Advisor of the Year!

Here’s how our teams fared:

Cascade K-8 Community School

Cascade K-8 sent a team of 24 6-8th graders to Spokane to compete at the WTSA conference. Students competed in 21 out of the more than 36 events open to middle school students, and participated in a Relay for Life fundraising walk for the American Cancer Society.

The following students qualified to attend based on their performance in a January qualifier round: 

• Sixth-graders: Lillian Dennis, Maya Farjam-Andaleeb, Ray Fordham, Kai Goldenberg-Hay, Ani Maddox, Matty Miller, Sebastian Tucker, Eve Willard. 
• Seventh-graders: Alaina Cross, Scarlett Dewey, Zoe MacDicken, Stella Claire Sullivan. And
• Eighth-graders: Ryah Anderson, Quinn Farrow, Ruqaiya  Goriawalla, Matilda Jacobson, Dagny Lynn, Alden Maas, Neel Mahendru, Tierney McGinnis, Liam Nickeson, Clay Petrusky, Olive Stieber, and Jack Wolf.

Cascade K-8 student teams and individuals placed in the top 3 for 7 events, and 4 more teams were finalists in 4th and 5th place.

• Music Production 1st Place - Ray Fordham, Matty Miller, and Ani Maddox
• Data Science and Analytics 2nd Place - Ruqaiya Goriawalla, Quinn Farrow, Tilly Jacobson
• Community Service Video 2nd Place - Dagny Lynn, Tierney McGinnis, and Olive Stieber
• Forensic Technology 2nd Place- Alaina Cross, Zoe MacDicken
• Biotechnology 2nd Place - Alaina Cross, Zoe MacDicken, Stella Claire Sullivan
• Silent Film 2nd Place - Tilly Jacobson, Dagny Lynn, Tierney McGinnis, Liam Nickeson
• Career Prep 3rd Place - Olive Stieber
• Inventions and Innovations Finalists - Ryah Anderson, Ruqaiya Goriawalla, Matilda Jacobson, Alden Maas, Neel Mahendru
• Mass Production Finalists:
  • Team 1: Dagny Lynn, Tierney McGinnis, Liam Nickeson, Olive Steiber, Stella Claire Sullivan
  • Team 2: Kai Goldberg-Hay, Clayton Petrusky, Jack Wolf
• On Demand Video Finalists - Lillian Dennis, Maya Farjam-Andaleeb, Ani Maddox, Eve Willard

Three former Cascade K-8 students also ran for positions in the TSA State Officer Team. Jenabel Towillis and Keegan Ellis, currently at Shorecrest, and Willy McClanathan, currently at Mountlake Terrace. Jenabel Towillis was elected Washington TSA State Vice President and Keegan Ellis was elected Sergeant-at-Arms.

- Cascade K-8 TSA Advisor Becca Drury

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Einstein Middle School

Congratulations to the 26 Einstein students who qualified and attended the WTSA Conference!

Einstein’s TSA team included: Yamanuel Belay, Matthew Bowers, Christina Clark, Czarina Clark, Nikos Chiu, Miles Coleman, Marina Early, Mac Featherstone, Platon Gomilko, Oscar Horne, Cory Ip, Juhee Kim, Eloise Langevin, Brian Lee, Cedar Morris, Sebastian Pintea, Will Schielke, Travis Small, Alia Smith, Emily Tian, Daniel Ung, Leila Vachranukunkiet, Filip Vojnovic, Finley Wagstaff, Cheng Yang, and Nathan Yee. 

The following students placed in their competitions:

• 1st Place, Audio Podcasting - Filip Vojnovic and Cheng Yang
• 2nd Place, CAD Foundations - Platon Gomilko
• Finalists, Challenging Technology Issues - Eloise Langevin and Leila Vachranukunkiet
• 2nd Place, Children's Stories - Juhee Kim, Cedar Morris, and Sebastian Pintea
• Finalists, Coding - Brian Lee, Travis Small
• 1st Place, Cybersecurity Foundations - Czarina Clark
• 2nd Place, Cybersecurity Foundations - Sebastian Pintea
• 3rd Place, Cybersecurity Foundations - Christina Clark
• 3rd Place, Data Science and Analytics - Juhee Kim, Sebastian Pintea, and Emily Tian
• 2nd Place, Digital Photography - Christina Clark
• 1st Place, Essays on Technology - Czarina Clark
• 3rd  Place, Essays on Technology - Corey Ip
• Finalist, Essays on Technology - Christina Clark 
• 2nd Place, Flight - Juhee Kim
• Finalist, Flight  - Sebastian Pintea
• 3rd Place, Forensic Technology - Leila Vachranukunkiet and Emily Tian
• Finalists, Junior Solar Sprint - Nikos Chiu and Emily Tian
• Finalists, Junior Solar Sprint - Yamanuel Belay and Filip Vojnovic
• 1st Place, Mechanical Engineering - Matthew Bowers and Daniel Ung
• 3rd Place, Mechanical Engineering - Eloise Langevin and Leila Vachranukunkiet
• Finalists, Medical Technology - Christina Clark, Czarina Clark, and Emily Tian
• Finalists, Music Production - Eloise Langevin and Leila Vachranukunkiet
• 1st Place, Off the Grid - Travis Small and Daniel Ung
• Finalists, Off the Grid - Miles Coleman and McIntyre Featherstone
• 2nd Place, Prepared Speech - Czarina Clark
• Finalist, Prepared Speech - Cheng Yang
• 3rd Place, Promotional Marketing - Alia Smith
• 3rd Place, STEM Animation - McIntyre Featherstone, Yamanuel Belay, and William Schielke
• Finalists, Trebuchet - Corey Ip and Oscar Horne
• 3rd Place, Video Game Design - Platon Gomilko, Corey Ip
• 1st Place, Website Design - Christina Clark, Czarina Clark, and Alia Smith
• Finalists, Website Design -  Corey Ip, Cheng Yang, and Nathan Yee

- Advisor Mary Thurber

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Shorecrest High School

From Shorecrest, 63 TSA students came with us to the State level competition. All of our students did a wonderful job of representing Shorecrest with great attitudes, professionalism, and high-quality work!

Two Shorecrest students ran for State TSA Officer Positions. Among an extremely tough field of candidates, both students were elected! Please congratulate the next Washington State TSA Vice President, Jenabel Towillis, and the next Washington State TSA Sergeant-at-Arms, Keegan Ellis!

A HUGE congratulations to the following competitive event finalists (top 5 in the state) and award winners! Students who took 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place in the state competition will be invited to keep working on their project and compete at the National level in June!

• Animation, Finalists - Lauren Atherton and Ainsley Tice
• Children’s Stories, Finalist - Meridian Schwartz
• Drones Challenge, 2nd Place - Tom Dinell, Alex Lee, Gavin Leptich, Brooks Murray and Vyr Sterkowicz 
• Forensic Science, 3rd Place - Micah Fergerson and Yarrow Kyaw
• Infographic, 1st Place - Linzhi Chan
• Robotics Challenge, 1st Place - Jacob Ellis, Isaac Lee, and Vyr Sterkowicz
• Senior Solar Sprint, Finalists - Olivia Braaten, Keegan Ellis, Silas Maas, and Micah Pyle
• Silent Film, 1st Place - Thora Fish, Yarrow Kyaw, Zack Meyer, Taryn Murray, and Lewis Stotler
• STEM Mass Media, 3rd Place - Keegan Ellis, Yuuma Jensen, and Jenabel Towillis
• Structural Design:
  • Ian Ha and Carrot Yuen - 2nd Place
  • Linzhi Chan and Ming Chan - 3rd Place
• System Control Technology, 1st Place - Alex Lee, Gavin Leptich and Brooks Murray
• VEX Robotics, Finalists - Lauren Atherton, Taryn Murray, Leena Murthy, and Ainsley Tice
• Video Game Design, Finalists - Semra Aemmer, Olivia Braaten, Jacob Ellis, Silas Maas, and Nathan Ruggiero

- Advisors Kari Potter and Emily Slack

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Shorewood High School

Shorewood brought 48 students to the WTSA Conference in Spokane, WA. This young team, only in its third year, had an unbelievable showing over the three days of competition. Nearly half of our students finished in the Top Five out of more than 2300 students competing.

First Place finishers are:

• Children’s Stories - Gegee Amgalan, Reese Davison, Coren Murphy, and Velvet Wu
• Drone UAV Challenge – Evan Butler, Eli Cady, and Milo Clark
• Future Technology Teacher – Evan Butler
• Photographic Technology – Yeva Gomilko
• Trebuchet - Evan Butler, Eli Cady, Milo Clark, and Sam Hicks

2nd Place Finishers:

• Forensics – Benjamin Irish and Simona Tapia

3rd Place Finishers:

• Board Game Design – Julia Schielke, Reese Davison, Willem Brus, Ava Hernandez, Lillian Sherrell, Kai Gyarmathy
• Concept Art – Velvet Wu

Finalists:

• STEM Mass Media – Reese Davison, Coren Murphy, and Julia Schielke
• Photographic Technology – Jay Olander
• Drone UAV Challenge - Osiris Chacona, Campbell Hamilton, and Sam Hicks

Finally, our very own 9th grader, Aria Nair, who decided to run for state office, put her heart and soul into her campaign in addition to competing in three events!  Aria’s slogan was “Reach Higher with NAIR!” which is exactly what happened. Aria was elected and will be joined by two Shorecrest students. The six person Washington TSA State Officer team will have three Shoreline School District students serving for the 2025-26 year!

- Advisors Angie Nouwens and Shannon McMaster