Loftis Middle School Technology Student Association students hold trophies they won at the Tennessee TSA State Conference. From left are seventh-grader Michelle Melton, sixth-grader Damon Brown, seventh-grader Leah Carney, sixth-grader Trever Henegar, eighth-grader Ross Eller and sixth-grader Chris Lee. LMS TSA students won first place in TSA Cup Marine Design, second place in flight, third place in dragster, third place in techno talk, third place in problem solving and third place in digital photography.
Photo by Katie WardLoftis Middle School Technology Student Association’s sixth-grader Chris Lee and eighth-grader Ross Eller are putting the final touches on their marine design for the upcoming National TSA Conference, to be held June 21-25 in Dallas, Texas.
The duo’s motorized Japanese-style catamaran recently won first place at the Tennessee Technology Student Association State Conference in TSA Cup Marine Design.
“Loftis Middle School has had a state champion [first-place winner] in TSA for the last five years,” said LMS TSA advisor and Technology and Engineering teacher Jim Crawford. “We’ve had 18 award winners in the last five years at the state level in first through third place.”
Chris and Ross have worked on their catamaran since September, but they are trying to improve it so it goes faster, said Crawford. The motorized catamaran, made out of balsa wood and Styrofoam, is 16 inches long and six inches wide and includes a battery operated motor and propeller.
Chris and Ross researched Japanese motorized boats to establish how to design their catamaran. Ross said he sanded down the catamaran to shape both sides like a V so that it might run faster in the water. The pair used Tempura paint to design the water craft and Behr paint to fill in spots that were chipping. They used a Kelvin motor for power.
“You have to choose a country to go with your boat,” said Chris. “We chose Japan because I started thinking about who has the best technology in the world and Japan popped in my head.”
Ross said he went to TSA Nationals last year with Chris’ brother Alex. The pair competed with a V-hole boat and won third place. Ross said he hopes this year’s catamaran will win an award at Nationals too.