IN Brentwood-Baldwin-Whitehall Summer 2016

Technology Student Association This year, students in Brentwood High School’s engineering and communications classes joined the Technology Student Association, (TSA). TSA is a nationally recognized, student driven organization that focuses on educating students in STEAM related events. Competitions range from Flight Endurance to Fashion Design, and members are invited to participate in up to six competitions. The idea to create a chapter came from high school students Luke Benedik and Luke O’Shea, who were joined by Teddi Sedlar to form the chapter’s team of officers. Benedik served as the chapter’s president, assisted by O’Shea and Sedlar as the Vice President and Secretary, respectively. The students were advised by Brentwood’s engineering teacher, Beau Sedlar. “We do a lot of challenging and interesting activities in class, but it is interesting to see what other schools are doing and compare,” said Benedik. This year, members of the Brentwood chapter competed in multiple competitions, including CAD 2D and 3D, Architectural Renovation, Technical Sketching and Application, Extemporaneous Speech, and Technology Problem Solving. Students competed at the regional level in January, and despite attending as a rookie chapter, several students ended up placing. In Extemporaneous Speech, Teddi Sedlar won first place for the region, followed by Luke O’Shea in second. Luke Benedik won third place in Technical Sketching and Application, and Teddi Sedlar won second. Pat Carr and Dominic Woods won first place in Technology Problem Solving, followed by Nick George and Brandon Mayfield in second place. In Architectural Renovation, Leah Mattola and Sabrina Stockline placed first in the region. “It was a good experience for the first year competing,” Stockline said. The Pennsylvania “region six” is made up of several schools in southwestern PA, including Elizabeth Forward and South Fayette schools. At the regional level, “region six” had combined with “region one”. Some of the competitions at the regional conference had hundreds of students competing, and many of these students had been a part of TSA for years. The fact that competitions are designed to challenge students makes the competitions fun, but very confusing as well. “Last year, they tried to have us reset a mousetrap using nothing but construction paper,” said Dominic Woods. “We started TSA this year so that future students would be able to utilize TSA as an avenue to build up their resumes and college applications,” said engineering teacher Beau Sedlar. And with plenty of current 10th and 11th graders ready to carry the torch, according to one of the officers, the future of Brentwood’s TSA is looking very bright. Brentwood-Baldwin-Whitehall | Summer 2016 | icmags.com 75 C I THOOL Y OF MC KE E SP N E WS SC DI STRI C TOR N ETWS On Monday, April 11, 3 BHS students, accompanied by Mr. Kozarian, School Resource Officer, attended the 7th annual Allegheny County Teen Safe Driving Competition, held at Pittsburgh Technical Institute. Reneé Burch, Adam Hoebler and Abby Shaffer competed against other local high school students in 3 categories – a written test, a driving skills test and a perceptual driving test. Although the students did not win any prizes in the competition, all said it was a fun day and they learned some valuable driving tips! McKeespor BrentwoodtBorough Students Compete in the Teen Driving Challenge

IN Brentwood-Baldwin-Whitehall Summer 2016 | Page 77