The new generation of technological innovators shine yet again as more than 50 members of the Coppell High School Technology Student Association (TSA) club advanced from the virtual regional level on Feb. 27 to the state competitions yesterday. 

“I am ecstatic,” Coppell engineering teacher Mike Yakubovsky said. “I’m extremely proud of all of them, and I am proud of the whole chapter. Given that this is only our second year doing TSA and in the middle of a pandemic, they have all worked really hard and that showed with the qualifying of state.”

Though the state competition was canceled last year due to COVID-19, members who advanced to state this year are able to compete in the upcoming competition. This year, the competitions are all virtual. 

“Doing the virtual [competition] actually gave everybody a chance to do it,” Yakubovsky said. “The virtual has actually allowed more opportunities for students to do things they may not have been able to before.” 

TSA encourages members to showcase their technological skills through creative projects such as creating children’s stories, video game design and board game design. Despite CHS senior Ghufran Murtuza not advancing to the state competition last year, he won first in the Computer Aided Design engineering event and is now advancing to the next level of competition.

“[TSA teaches] technical communication like email, video, writing and anything like that,” Murtuza said. “It’s not just a club about careers; it’s more about building the skills to lead up to those careers.”

While Murtuza qualified in an individual event, CHS seniors Fiona Lopez and Max Gross worked together to illustrate the Hubble Space Telescope in a visually appealing way. With the combination of scientific and creative, Lopez thinks that TSA will help her with her future career path. 

“It’s an organization where I can connect with others who have the same interest in technology, and it helps me be prepared for future careers, especially if it’s in the technology aspect,” Lopez said. “I’m going into aerospace engineering [at Texas A&M] and TSA helped me prepare for it.”

Senior Sapna Chandrasekar is the president of the Coppell TSA chapter. Chandrasekar is in charge of gathering and passing information to all club members, along with competing in the digital video production event. 

TSA has had to cross many hurdles, such as the Texas winter storm, causing power outages in many homes and having an all-virtual club in the 2020-21 school year. 

“I have seen a couple of videos in my subcategory which are really good, and I need to up my game,” Chandrasekar said. “I am confident in [TSA’s] abilities.” 

Murtuza thinks anyone looking to go into the technology industry will benefit from joining TSA. 

“[TSA is for] anyone wanting a technical job such as engineering, coding, even just communicating,” Murtuza said. “TSA is a great club for anyone who wants to go into the engineering or STEM field or anyone who wants to learn computer engineering.”

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