On April 6, 42 students from the Mt. Olive Middle School Technology Student Association (TSA) participated in the NJ TSA State Conference at The College of New Jersey, competing in various STEM competitive events against 16 other middle schools throughout New Jersey. The team from Mt. Olive placed in 21 out of the 26 events they entered with nine first places; three second places; and ten third places.

The students listed below placed in the top three for their events: Biotechnology Design-Shreya Segu, Nicole Jeska, Jessica Tang, second place; CAD Foundations-Ryan Nguyen, third place; Career Prep-Maneera Duddu, third place; Challenging Technology Issues-Isabella Hanlon, Maneera Duddu, third place; Dragster-Emma Dimmig, third place; Electrical Applications-Nick Tarallo, first place; Essays on Technology-Anthony Rocco, third place; Flight-Nicole Jeska, first place; Forensic Technology-Shreya Segu, Akila Venkatraman, third place; Inventions and Innovations-James Guenzel, Michael Mora, Tanvi Rao, Aveena Khanderia , third place; Junior Solar Sprint-Nikhil Nandikanti, Jake Cerasoli, Emma Dimmig, third place; Leadership Strategies-Sujay Shankar, Gregory Lake, Adam Tang, first place; Mass Production-Ryan Nguyen, Andres Cruz, first place; Microcontroller Design-Zain Bhatti, Jai Amin, Aditya Menon, Vedh Koutha, Alish Husain, second place; Prepared Speech-Andres Cruz, first place; Siya Kulkarni, second  place; Problem Solving-Hana Hassan, Joshua Regala, first place; STEM Animation-Anthony Rocco, Gregory Lake, Max Cerasoli, first place; System Control Technology-Ayush Chakraborty, Nick Tarallo, Joshua Regala, Vinay Jagadeesh, first place; Tech Bowl-Ryan Nguyen, Matthew Song, Victoria Tang, first place; Video Game Design-Frankie Alfano, Billy Albert, Matt Folenta, Isabella Hanlon, Hana Hassan, third place; Website Design-Stacey Tang, Jessica Tang, Sujay Shankar, Matthew Song,  Adam Tang, Brennan Ozkan, third place.

“Overall, we had a great day competing, watching solar-powered cars race, testing our balsa wood bridge, playing student-created video games, and viewing displays that showcased student research in the fields of biotechnology and medical technology,” says Beth Cohen, MOMS advisor for Synergistics/Robotics Club/TSA. “I am very proud of the students and want to thank you all for your continued support of all the STEM programs at the Middle School.”

MOMS Principal Susan Breton Miranda says, “I am incredibly proud of our TSA association.  Mrs. Cohen and her TSA team have put in extraordinary hours of time and effort to produce top rated results for our middle school.  Their outstanding results are a testament of our students’ hard work, genuine creativity and academic abilities.  I look forward to our team’s continued success and feel confident that we will see exceptional results again in the future!”