Students excel at Technology Student Association Nationals
Courtesy photos Northern Cambria’s Technical Design participants were Zoe McCombie and Braiden Kammerer.
St. Nicholas Catholic Middle School was National Runner Up in Solar Racer. Participants were (from left): Lance Ludwig, Amelia Kline and Russell Ludwig.
Courtesy photos Northern Cambria’s Technical Design participants were Zoe McCombie and Braiden Kammerer.
St. Nicholas Catholic Middle School was National Runner Up in Solar Racer. Participants were (from left): Lance Ludwig, Amelia Kline and Russell Ludwig.
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N. Cambria, St. Nicholas compete at conference
Area students participated in the Technology Student Association National Conference June 22-26 in Washington, D.C., and several local schools had outstanding performances.
Northern Cambria Middle School was named National Champion in Technical Design, while St. Nicholas Catholic Middle School finished as the National Runner Up in Solar Racer. Advisers are Matthew Kline and Sarah Kline.
Northern Cambria's Technical Design participants were Zoe McCombie and Braiden Kammerer.
In Technical Design, students are given 24 hours to solve a real world engineering problem by designing a working solution. They research the problem, brainstorm ideas, develop three design concepts, create a CAD drawing of their best design and explain how their solution meets the design criteria. This year's challenge was to design a device that could be stored in a backpack and quickly deployed to keep both the student and the backpack dry during rainy weather.
Zoe McCombie also competed in Flight, where she finished in the top 20 in the nation. She advanced to the finals after outperforming more than 80 competitors. In the finals, she had 45 minutes to design and build a brand new airplane and narrowly missed a Top 10 finish.
Braiden Kammerer competed in CAD Foundations, where students recreate a technical drawing using a CAD platform. Braiden uses Autodesk Fusion. Braiden was the third competitor to complete the challenge but did not place in the top 10.
Both students will return next year as eighth graders and plan to compete again during the 2027 TSA season.
St. Nicholas Catholic Middle School was the National Runner Up in Solar Racer. Participants were Amelia Kline, Lance Ludwig and Russell Ludwig.
The team earned second place in the nation for the second consecutive year in Solar Racer.
Solar Racer challenges students to design, build, test and race a solar-powered vehicle. In addition to racing, teams prepare a display and engineering documentation that explains their research, testing, design process and improvements. Competing against more than 80 teams from across the country, the St. Nicholas Catholic MS team brought the second fastest car in the nation to the competition.
After winning the PA State Competition, the team built and tested five different cars before selecting the design they believed would perform best at the National Conference.
They then updated their display and documentation with the hopes of placing in the top 10 in the nation.
"Winning a national championship is an incredible accomplishment," adviser Matthew Kline said. "What makes this achievement even more impressive is that both Zoe and Braiden qualified for the national conference in other events, but chose to compete in different events to challenge themselves. They were willing to go above and beyond during the conference and that decision paid off. Their success is a testament to their hard work, dedication, and willingness to keep learning."
"The dedication these students showed throughout the year was remarkable," said adviser Sarah Kline.
"They never settled for good enough. They continued testing, redesigning, and improving every detail until they had the best car they could possibly build. Watching that commitment result in another second place national finish was incredibly rewarding."