After several months of writing children’s books, crafting presentations and preparing speeches, 25 students in the Texas Association of Future Educators (TAFE) went on to represent the school at the Educators Rising Nationals Conference in Washington, D.C. over the summer. In order to qualify, students had to first place in the top 10 in their grade bracket at both the Area and State levels.

“Doing this competition has definitely helped my public speaking, since I had to present in front of a lot of judges and Mrs. Hill had us present in front of parents and eighth graders,” junior Makayla Beamer, who placed second in Exploring Support Service Careers, said. “Traveling with TAFE is also super fun since we’re really close, and we’re not constantly competing, so we have chances to just go out to dinner and get to know each other better.”

The TAFE program has consistently found success at the state level; In 2023, the chapter brought 18 students to the Nationals Conference, more than any other school in America. This year, the program saw 25 students advance, a triumph TAFE sponsor Jill Hill partly attributes to the growing size of the organization.

“Every year we have more and more students wanting to compete; When I first started here, I think we had maybe four or five students that were interested, and now we have 40 or 50,” Hill said. “Also, one of the things they’ve changed about the competition in the past few years is that they split the contest between junior varsity and varsity levels, whereas before there were seniors competing against freshmen, which made it harder for them to advance.” 

The 2024 Nationals Conference took place from June 28 to July 1, although many students began working on their presentations and relics in September of 2023. 

“We had about two months to prepare before our first competition,” sophomore Brooklyn Perry, the first place national winner in Writing and Illustrating a Pre-K Children’s Book along with her teammate Laila Young, said. “Since it was my first year competing, the hardest part was not knowing what to expect out of the competitions, or what other people were going to do.”

There are over 20 contests students can choose to compete in, as well as many contests that are additionally offered in Spanish. 

“For my event, I shadowed Mr. Hattaway and made a presentation on why school counselors are important, which I then delivered to the judges,” Beamer said. “My freshman year I did a team competition, which is definitely different because you have to rely on other people to do their part, as well as having to deal with scheduling conflicts; there are definitely fun aspects of doing it with a team though, and the work is more divided.”

Awards were announced on the last day of the contest: Kennley Gholson placed first in Exploring Non-Core Education Careers; Emma Gilmore, Hallie Martin, Lyndi Davis and Sarah Bauman placed second for Inside our Schools; Molly Halligan placed second for Interactive Bulletin Boards; Amiah Leiker and Ruby Larson placed third for Teacher Created Materials; and Kayla Robinson, Maranata Tadesse and Brooke Smeltzer placed fourth for Public Service Announcement.

“After hearing the awards I just felt so relieved to have my contest done and know that I did good,” Halligan said. “It was my first time competing, so it was amazing seeing my name up there for the first time. Competing was definitely the highlight of my junior year.”

While the opportunity to compete in the TAFE Area and State contests, and subsequently the Educators Rising Nationals Conference, is open exclusively to students in the TAFE program, students do not need to be in the education pathway or classes in order to join the organization.

“We really encourage anyone who’s interested in education in any form to join,” Hill said, “but the leadership skills that we learn, the community service that we do, that would really translate well into any career. Competition also is just one piece of TAFE; you can also just participate in our monthly events if you want to get involved.”