Junior Jacob Rhodes took first place at the Technology Student Association (TSA) state conference at Missouri University of Science & Technology in Rolla that was held from April 23-25.

Eight members from the TSA club at Liberty went to participate and compete with over 700 other Missouri participants from 20 other schools/school districts across the state of Missouri for the three day competition. Only 7 out of the 700 that participated were finalists in their categories. Rhodes took first in STEM careers which made him eligible to compete at the National TSA conference in Orlando, FL June 21-25 this summer.

Rhodes has been a part of Liberty’s TSA club for the last two years, but this was his first year to ever attending the state conference. Rhodes says that the experience of winning first place at the conference.

“It felt great after working so long and hard to get the success and results that I got,” Rhodes said. The club advisor Mr. Pegg also added that “this was our first time going to the state conference as a chapter so to come home with a state champ is amazing!”

Rhodes said the positive experience is important to the development of the TSA Club.

“As a new club, this accomplishment will hopefully lead to more people joining and taking part in the amazing activities or club has to offer,” Rhodes said. He has been working on his project since the beginning of March for the conference.

Rhodes wasn’t the only Liberty student to take home an award.

“Overall, the TSA chapter has a great conference,” Peggs said. “Seven of the 8 members came home with hardware” including Rhodes, Alex Vigor, Kyle Chastain, Mateusz Przezdzieckii; and Cole Chastain received 5th place in On Demand Video; Nick Beseda took 6th place in Music Production; And Zainub Ahmed took 8th place in Essays on Technology.

TSA stands for The Technology Student Association where it is the Career and Technology Student Association that’s designed and dedicated to students interested in the STEM fields. It allows students to express their high-tech knowledge and their skills.

“We encourage anyone that loves technology in anyway (music, film, computers, programming, video games, cell phones, etc.) to come out to a meeting at the beginning of the school year next year,” Mr. Peggs said.

It gives opportunities for students to participate with leadership activities that prepares them for a science or engineering place of work. Mr Peggs also states that “girls can come out too. It’s not just a guys club.”