Braden River High School Students Prove they are Technically Advanced

Evan Lynch, a senior at Braden River High School, moved switches on his controller as he made his robot pick up cones.

“The goal of the challenge is to use the robot to stack the cones up as quickly as possible,” Lynch said. "I'm the builder and driver."

Lynch was demonstrating the skill that he and six teammates demonstrated to dominate at the Florida Technology Student Association Competition March 3 in Orlando.

Braden River collected 12-first place category trophies and also won the Outstanding School Award.

“As they were announcing the awards, it was one after another for Braden River High School,” said Braden River advisor Maureen Hudson. “And people always ask, ‘What’s their secret?’ Well, their secret is is that they work so hard. No one works harder than these kids.”

Lynch was part of victorious teams in Animatronics and System Control.

Vinh Dong, another senior, won first place for the model airplane he built. He said the reason he stood out was he didn’t do a model airplane kit but rather based his model on a drawing he saw online.

Dong said the TSA program has prompted him to apply to schools for engineering, as did Lynch, who will be going to the University of Florida next fall for mechanical engineering.

Two team members who combined with Lynch to win the Animatronics competition were junior Will Marston and sophomore Michael Kisida. Their project was an animatronic octopus and clam in an aquarium. The octopus waved its arms and moved its head while the clam open and closed. Fun facts about octopi flashed on a screen built into the “aquarium” itself.

Marston built the aquarium board, while Kisida programmed the electronics of the octopus clam, and screen.

They came up with the idea in September but said they actually finished the project at the hotel the day of the competition.

“We’ll probably add to it at the national competition to make the way that the octopus moves more natural,” Marston said. “And we’ll probably be finishing up at the competition, too.”

Gabriel McDerment earned a win in the Musical Production competition at the state conference. For him, it’s not just about the awards.

“I did it to actually get experience,” McDerment said. “My teammates and I are going to maybe record some music someday, and we learned from this.”

The National TSA Conference is June 22-26 in Atlanta.

Lakewood Ranch High School placed second place at the state competition for the Outstanding School Award. Carlos E. Haile Middle School took third in the middle school Outstanding School Award competition.