Diamond Bar High School’s most tech-savvy students recently came home with a plethora of awards, proving excellence in their trade.

From March 20-21, 58 members of the Technology Student Association accompanied by advisor Carly Russo attended the California State TSA Conference in Bakersfield. Students placed and received awards in various fields ranging from Architectural Renovation to Fashion Design.

DBHS TSA members competed in a total of 30 events, placing in the top three for 19 events. Biotechnology Design, Children’s Stories, and Desktop Publishing swept the awards for first, second, and third place.

“It’s awesome to see the growth of the club in the past three years, not just at our school but all over the state. I’m excited for the students to go to Nationals and bring more awards,” Russo said.

At the conference, Russo, a science teacher at DBHS, was selected to be the next TSA State Advisor. Five other DBHS TSA members were elected as TSA State Officers: Samantha Yang as State President, Brian Ho as State Secretary, Samuel Chiang as State Treasurer, and Leslie Sim as State Sergeant-at-Arms. The current State President Nicole Chen and Chiang were also pied in the face for raising the most money for the American Cancer Society, which has always been a partner of TSA.

“I am really grateful that I got reelected. As for the pie in the face, it was a humbling experience because it was for a good cause,” Chiang shared.

In preparation for the competition, TSA officers made a kick-start worksheet and held the Diamond Bar High School TSA Week, where students participated in competitions every day during lunch or after school. A new system was also introduced in order to shape students into better competitors.

“Something the officers introduced this year was the mentor system. We assigned a few students to each officer, and checked in every so often to see if they [were] doing okay,” Chen said.

Next in the TSA timeline is the National Conference, which will be held June 28 to July 2 at the Gaylord Texan Resort in Dallas. While State winners will get priority in choosing the events in which they will participate at Nationals, a select group of non-winners will be able to go as well.

“Usually if we have extra spots left we try to open it up to students who really want to go because it simply is an amazing experience. It really is a life-changing opportunity,” Chen shared. “Our short term goal right now is to finalize all national conference logistics and fundraise so we can get as many students to go as possible.”

The DBHS TSA chapter was the first one to be chartered in the state and the only California chapter to compete at the National TSA conference. Since its onset, members have shown tremendous amounts of dedication and expertise, which led to its huge success. Being a leader of this organization will be something Chen, who will be off to college this fall, will greatly miss.