Parsons High School TSA team members Antonio Aita and Conner Barcus placed second in the nation in Debating Technical Issues at the Technology Student Association Conference in Orlando, Fla.
“This is the first time Parsons High School has had a TSA member or team place in the top 3 and receive a trophy,” sponsor Kendra Barcus said. “We’ve never had anyone from USD 503 get that far up. We’ve only made it to the semifinals.
“So you understand the magnitude of this, 48 states are involved in TSA, and then there is Germany, Turkey, South Korea, and American Samoa, and there were 9,000 high school and middle school students there competing in the national conference. So, it is a very big deal in the Technology Student Association world.”
TSA focuses on technology issues. In Debating Technical Issues, competitors were given different topics to prepare for ahead of the competition they could potentially be debating. They compile a resource sheet. When they report for the preliminary round, they turn in their resources, and they draw their topic. They have 15 minutes to prepare then they enter their debate.
Conner Barcus was the alternate for Jayce Quirin, who partnered with Aita to win the competition at the state level to qualify them for nationals.
“Conner is not on a debate team. He does so many things it does not fit in with his schedule, so Antonio gave him a crash course on how to debate, and they worked together really well. Conner knew it was very important to Antonio and they just came out as winners,” Mrs. Barcus said.
“With this competition it’s really about how you speak, what to bring up and what not to bring up, and what you want to say and how you want to say it,” Aita said.
They spent weeks preparing, and Aita said they were thankfully able to get the national runner-up trophy.
Of Conner, Aita said. “He was awesome. After the semifinal round we couldn’t believe we made it. We talked about how Jayce and I never made it past there and how much more Conner and I had accomplished and at that point we didn’t even know we were national finalists yet. One thing that Conner did is he actually got the opposing team to agree with our arguments, so he did a great job. I had a lot of confidence in Conner.”
The first topic they drew was autonomous cars, and they were on the pro side. They won that round. But didn’t know until later that night they had advanced to the semifinals. For the semifinal round, Conner and Aita debated the pro side of renewable energy.
“They felt pretty good. They felt they had made a good argument. They had good questions,” Mrs. Barcus said. “The next day on the website they put who made the top 12 - the finalists. When we checked and Parsons was on there we were thrilled. We were so excited. Antonia had never made it that far. Antonio has participated in this event for three years now. Jayce Quirin has always been his partner in the past, and Conner was an alternate this year because Jayce is getting ready to play football at the university.”
The day of the awards, judges have a rubric they score. They call the top 10 to the stage from the top.
“They called Parsons High School, and we were ecstatic. The boys were jumping around,” Mrs. Barcus said. “They go and line up. Then they announce the top three. They gave the third-place trophy and then when they said Parsons High School was runner up, we were just so proud. The boys, their hard work had paid off. They were thrilled to be representing the high school.”
Aita said he is thankful to their sponsors Megan Fugate and Kendra Barcus for all they did to help, get them there, and all their support.
“We accomplished something amazing,” Aita said. “I’m really happy about how it worked out.”
Aita is headed to Spain in September as an exchange student, so this was his last year to compete in events at PHS.
“So, he went out with a bang,” Mrs. Barcus said.
“It definitely was a great way to go out,” Aita added.
Parsons High School walked away with another top award from nationals this year. TSA partners with the American Cancer Society (ACS) and last year when the PHS TSA team came back they wanted to raise money for the American Cancer Society as a service project.
“The boys decided they wanted to have a Relay for Life Team and they raised over $2,000. They sold luminaries. They got donations. They had 50/50 pots at football games. Then they helped decorate for the survivors’ dinner. They walked from 4 until 9 or 10 that night. They were so proud of themselves. There are 10 in our chapter and all 10 came and participated in walking. TSA let us leave our Relay for Life money in Labette County and that was really wonderful for our community,” Mrs. Barcus said. The group was recognized at the National level with the highest recognition of the ACS Purple Level Award. They got to stand up in front of everyone and be recognized,” Mrs. Barcus said.
Despite not making it to the finals, there were other PHS TSA team members who earned their place at nationals, competed and did well.
PHS 2024 graduate Samuel Brewer has been competing in dragster for the last two years.
“They have to build a CO2 dragster car to very specific specifications. They race them in front of a huge audience.” Mrs. Barcus said. “They take the top times, and the way the dragster looks and stuff to score them. He really did a good job on his dragster making it to the national level as well.”
Brewer and Noah McIntosh competed for their second year at nationals, as the state’s problem-solving team.
“They go into this room, and the room is just huge, and I don’t know how many kids, but tons and tons. They have no idea what the problem will be. They have a toolbox full of the materials they are told to pack in it. If their materials are not correct, they get disqualified. Then they are given a problem and they have two hours to come up with a solution with the materials that they have, and then they are tested at the end.” Mrs. Barcus said.
Lucas Fugate did an event this year the district has never had anyone participate in, called Transportation Modeling. TSA gives you the theme of your vehicle and he made an RV. He designed it and 3D printed it down to its suspension wheels and all the rims. At his presentation at state, Fugate got first place and earned a ticket to nationals. He had to write a report and have the background of his project and they judged it on a rubric.
I was so proud of him. No one from here has ever done that,” Mrs. Barcus said. Fugate plans to try again next year.
“And then we had our Tech Bowl team. It's kind of like Quiz Bowl, but it’s on technical issues. That is Conner, Lucas Fugate and Noah McIntosh. This is their third year to compete at the national level as a Tech Bowl team.
“It is just such a wonderful program. It teaches leadership skills and puts kids in challenges. It is a really neat organization. I’m glad our kids have the opportunity to get involved in it,” Mrs. Barcus said.