Miami Lakes Educational Center junior, Carlos Garcia, was recently named a Sunshine State Scholar, a top STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) honor by the State of Florida. Garcia also attended the STEM-centered Technology Student Association State Competition in late February.
"Being recognized as a Sunshine State Scholar is an extremely gratifying and humbling experience, especially from one of the largest school districts in the state. It is humbling to see the massive amounts of incredibly smart students in Florida at the conference and to see all the great things they are doing," said Garcia.
Students recognized with Florida's top STEM honor are nominated based on GPA, enrollment in high level courses, and extra-curricular involvement. Garcia is currently taking the highest level science and mathematics courses offered at MLEC in addition to the required courses for the engineering strand in the Cambridge Academy. Garcia is also a part of the robotics club, SECME and TSA.
Garcia and the rest of the TSA Club attended the TSA State Competition where Garcia took third place in the CAD 3D division, and shared first place with his teammate Cesar Gonzalez in the CNC Production division. MLEC's TSA chapter won fourth place overall in the state, despite being one of the smaller chapters with 27 students.
TSA club members Daniel Deleon, Sean Hernandez, Luis Arreaga, Adrian Traviezo, Martin Escalante, Meshar Williams, Omar Morales, Melissa Perez, Pablo Conde, Nicolas Burbinkski, Joanna Luo, Julie Luo, and Michele Wu all won first place for a variety of categories. Tatiana Morales, Ricardo Guerra, Ramiro Pineda Anthony Llopis, and Pamela Parada all won third place in various categories.
"The members participate in the TSA competition because of the satisfaction of being the best in the state at what they do. Carlos is no exception as he and Cesar Gonzalez won first place in their group event at this year's conference," said TSA member Daniel DeLeon.