Room 203 used to be filled with the clacking of keyboards, the chatter of students discussing code and designs. The computer banks were lined with Oreos on napkins, Cheezits in cups, Coke cans, and Capri Suns.

Now, there’s no cans, no Oreos, no typing.

But there’s still the students, and there’s still meetings. They just happen to be on a screen.

TSA is a club for those interested in computers, programming, and engineering, but it’s more than that. It’s a place to connect with others who are passionate about tech. It’s where you can go to create a fun game or project.

“We were like a mafia. We had a tight bond,” Skyler Friar ‘23 said.
TSA members see themselves as a friendly, though secluded group, but COVID-19 and remote learning has changed up how they operate.

“I’m hoping it will allow for more collaboration throughout the project,” TSA President Corbin Estes ‘21 said.

The club helps build lasting relationships and gives you the skills to work with others. This year, however, has turned making those relationships into more of a challenge. Students can no longer meet in person to collaborate, which made it more difficult for members to connect with one another.

“I really feel like the COVID situation did a number on our ability to communicate,” Gregory Bell ‘21 said. “I don’t feel like we’ll get the same level of community unless we go back to school and have our club in person,” Bell said.

Room 203 was so much more than just a classroom to members of TSA. It was their home. Without it, the club hasn’t been the same. Still, the club has perservered though all the challenges of home learing and it will continue to carry on, no matter what the future might look like.

“I want to see [the club] succeed far into the future, even past when I graduate in 2023,” Friar said. “I would absolutely love to come back from college one day and see that TSA is still going strong.”