Brent Payne, right, is presented the Dr. Bob Hanson Distinguished Student Award, the Technology Student Association’s highest national honor, by 2015-2016 National TSA Vice President Jack Crawford.Members of the Signal Mountain Middle/High School chapter of the Technology Student Association displayed their superior skills in areas related to science, technology, engineering and math at the recent national TSA competition, as well as the Tests of Engineering Aptitude, Mathematics and Science competition.
Brent Payne, a member of the Class of 2016, was selected out of 250,000 TSA participants nationwide to receive the organization’s highest honor, the Dr. Bob Hanson Distinguished Student Award. The award, which is named for the organization’s founder, is bestowed upon one middle school student and one high school student each year based on their service to the community and to TSA, according to the TSA website.
Payne’s accomplishments include helping to establish the TSA and TEAMS chapters at SMMHS, as well as developing a STEM and technology education program at the school. He served as a state officer for two years and volunteers to help with TSA state and regional conferences.
The SMMHS TSA chapter has qualified for the national competition each of the six years he has participated, he said. In 2016, his team placed eighth in the nation with its manufacturing prototype, a wheelchair bag for students and professionals.
This was the second year the school entered the competition for TEAMS, in which team members work together rather than individually, according to staff sponsor Kathy McCormack.
In preparation for the state competition, engineer Charley Spencer matched students with TVA engineers Lisa Ortiz, Teresa Casner, Jesse Johnston, Rebecca Mott, Wade McFaddin, William Roes and Jared Wycuff. They taught the students about energy efficiency in pumping systems, failure engineering and material science, lenses and telescopes, microscope technology, and Six-Sigma manufacturing methods by setting up stations for the students to rotate through, she said.
Payne’s team, comprising Erin Brown, Bethany Burns, Caroline Culpepper, Maggie Dowling, Hannah Pope, Brendan Roberts and Andy Vernetti, placed second in the state, which qualified them to compete in the national competition in Nashville. After talking with UTC professor Dr. Ethan Carver about current research on optogenetics – a biological technique involving the use of light to control cells in the living tissue – students wrote essays on the topic and made a presentation on technology needed to make life on Mars sustainable.
“TSA provides hands-on experience that prepares students for careers they want to pursue in the future,” Payne said as to why he thinks other students should get involved with TSA. “It lets you compete with the best and brightest students across the nation.”
McCormack said sign-ups for SMMHS students who are interested in competing in the upcoming school year will be held in the fall, adding that the theme for 2016-2015 is “Engineering the Environment.”
Contact Emily Crisman at ecrisman@timesfreepress.com or 757-6508.