TAFE (Texas Association of Future Educators) members competed virtually on Thursday, March 4th and Friday, March 5th under the direction of sponsor Lori Center.

With a total of nine projects advancing to Nationals, four projects earned four Blue Ribbons is the highest score that they can receive.

State Blue Ribbon winners include Clarissa Young and Keziah Knight in ‘Chapter Yearbook’, Wesley Wilt, Brian Arreola, Megan Rhea, Darby Conner in ‘Parliamentary Procedure’ (Top 5 scorer), Kolby Helms and Kinsey Ponder in ‘Project Visualize on Appreciation’, Elexy Gomez and Alan Mondragon in ‘Project Visualize on Education Awareness’, as well as Keziah Knight and Keilah Knight in ‘Middle/High Interactive Bulletin Board’.

State Red Ribbon winners include Jesus Perez and Alondra Medina in ‘Project Visualize on Leadership’ as well as Katie Grace Ibarra and Jyovanny Robles  in ‘Project Visualize on Teacher/Training’. 

National Qualifiers include Rhea and Conner in ‘Elementary Interactive Bulletin Board’, Ponder and Helms in ‘Elementary Interactive Bulletin Board’, Keziah Knight and Katie Grace Ibarra in ‘Project Visualize on Service’, Hillary Crist in ‘Educators Rising Leadership Award’, Helms in ‘Impromptu Lesson’, Conner in ‘Impromptu Speaking’, Hatseva Argote in ‘Lesson Plan and Delivery Arts’, Kennedy Fugate in ‘Lesson Plan and Delivery CTE’, as well as Ibarra in ‘Public Speaking’.

“These students definitely worked hard on their competition pieces this year, and they accomplished their goal to advance to Nationals for the first time,” Center said. “This was a challenging year for students to be able to complete their projects due to COVID restrictions, but they were creative and found ways to work within the guidelines. I could not be more proud of their hard work and dedication to this organization. Chapel Hill is producing some amazing future educators.”

They were also given an Outstanding Chapter Award for TAFE and this is the first time they are receiving the award.

The National Competition was going to be hosted in Florida again, but it is now going to be held virtually this summer.