2025 National Conference in Nashville
After a year of intensive work on TSA projects such as webmaster, digital video production, engineering design, and architectural design, we had set ourselves a major goal: to present our results at the National TSA Conference in the USA and bring home as many successes as possible. This year, our journey took us to Nashville, Tennessee. We were accompanied by Mr. Schwieger and Ms. Frischmann, who stepped in at short notice for Mr. Brunsch, who was unable to attend due to illness. Ten motivated students from our chapter also joined us.
Our journey began on Monday afternoon in Leipzig. We took the FlixTrain to Berlin, but heavy storms had brought down a high-voltage power line, so we were stuck in Luckenwalde for two hours. We therefore had to travel from Südkreuz to BER Airport in a crowded public bus instead of the S-Bahn (our group, with all our suitcases and huge bulky luggage, was hard to miss). Once we arrived at BER, we checked into the hotel and got something to eat before resting up for the next long day of travel.
The first two days in Nashville were mainly spent settling in. We went on a shopping spree at Walmart, explored a nearby mall, and tried typical American cuisine at a diner. On Thursday, we drove into downtown Nashville. We visited the Capitol, strolled along the famous Broadway, and experienced firsthand how live bands played in almost every bar, creating an atmosphere of music, smells, and colorful lights. Finally, we tried the legendary “Nashville Hot Chicken” at Hattie B's.
On Friday, we focused on intensive preparation for our projects. Many constructions, models, and posters had to be set up on site or repaired, as the transport from Germany had not been without minor damage. In true teamwork, we cut, glued, soldered, and painted late into the night. In between, we attended our first TSA chapter meeting, where we received our participant ID cards and made initial contacts with other teams.
The official kickoff took place on Saturday morning with the festive General Session. The sight of thousands of participants from all US states was overwhelming. In the days that followed, our hours were filled with project submissions, competition rounds, spontaneous ideas, lively discussions, and the popular pin trading. We made contacts with TSA members from a wide variety of regions, exchanged experiences, and gained valuable insights into other ways of working. On Tuesday, the award ceremony took place. Here we were proud to announce that we had achieved 5th place in Digital Video Production and 4th place in On Demand Video. The latter is a suburban competition in which a short film must be created within just 36 hours. In the evening, we celebrated our results at a dinner together before packing for our departure.
On Wednesday morning, we began our journey home: a flight back to New York, then overnight to Berlin, and finally by bus back to Leipzig. Our time in Nashville was exhausting, but of course very enjoyable and impressive. We worked hard, but we also gained unforgettable impressions, saw and got to know old and new faces, and gained a wealth of experience.