By Ethan Barriga.
TAFE students traveled to Washington, D.C. late June to compete at the Educators Rising
conference, placing eighth in Public Speaking and receiving a white ribbon in Interactive
Bulletin Board.
The annual Educators Rising conference occurs every summer, and 38 states come together to compete in their respective national competitions. Students must go through three competitions in Texas in order to compete at the national level, including the regional competition (depending on size of the chapter), the area conference and finally the state competition. All students who decide to participate in TAFE competitions must also present and reflect on their project in front of a panel of judges and a portion of their score reflects on their presentation.
Junior Vivian Dyer placed eighth place in the public speaking competition, former seniors
Sarah Richert and Olivia Cabes received a white ribbon for scoring between a 93-94% in their
Interactive Bulletin Board competition, juniors Ethan Barriga and Sam Pinson competed in the ethical dilemma competition, with Barriga subbing in for the other group members in Pinson’s group, and lastly teacher leader Shea Roberson attended the conference with her family.
Pinson said that his group’s hard work was met with a shocking progression onto the national competition for his ethical dilemma competition.
“I was in an elevator and I received a notification from the TAFE app,” Pinson said. “It said
something about reserved seating for our group and we excitedly ran to Mrs. Roberson to figure the situation out.”
Teacher leader Roberson said that in order for students to progress onto the national level for TAFE, they must be creative and prompt when presenting their projects.
“They need to be comfortable speaking to a small group and be able to think on their feet to
answer judges’ questions,” Roberson said. “They also need to be creative and work hard at the beginning of the school year. Creativity and hard work is the key!”
