TSA teams from Braden River High and Nolan Middle School celebrate national championships

We know of several bright youngsters who should be smiling broadly as they greet classmates beginning with the new school year Monday.

They’re on the Technology Student Association teams at Braden River High and Nolan Middle and earned national championships in some cool, contemporary categories at the 2024 National TSA Conference this summer in Orlando.

Braden River’s Sriya Boggavapu, Chai Kurakula and Kyler Wade won in Animatronics, while Ayva Culp, Jayson Eggleston, Riley Harris, Moksha Pitchala and Kyra Wright joined Boggavapu in winning Board Game Design.

And then there’s Nolan Middle’s Max Alpert, Harrison Kennedy and Colton McGill who won their national title in Video Game Design.

Props, as well, to T.J. Leahy, the River TSA instructor, and his counterpart at Nolan, Dominique Bagunu .

In all, TSA students from our school district brought back 45 top-10 awards to Manatee County.

· That’s 19 years of wedded bliss for Stanley and Doretta Cromartie.

· Congrats to Brea Styles , new director of the Child Support Program with the Manatee County Clerk of Court & Comptroller. Formerly the program’s deputy director, Styles succeeds Crystal Waiters , who retired after 32 years with the Clerk's Office.

· Say it ain’t so! Yvonne Markiewicz is one year why of the Big 7-0!

· A bow to Deb Marshall , who has spent a remarkable 50 years working in food services with Blake Hospital. She started working there just months after Blake opened!

· Uh, oh! Nate Varnadore hit the Big 4-0!

· Tim Gilbreath is the 2024 Employee of the Quarter with the Manatee County Tax Collector’s office. He is its Multimedia Manager and been with the agency since 2009.

· Terry Tinkle is 78 years young.

· Last but not least, nephew Kevin Haddon , a fellow Phillies fan who lives near Tacoma, Washington, took his family – wife Lian , daughters Lily and Emme and son Rory – to see the Mariners play the Phillies the other night in Seattle.

The tickets he purchased online were $51 a pop and, on top of that, was a service charge and “fulfillment fee” of $23 per ticket.

Fulfillment fee?

What in blazes is that?

If you’re not fulfilled – the Phillies lost in extra innings – do you get a refund?

Yeah, right.

Vin’s People runs Sundays. Email Vin Mannix at vinspeople@gmail.com. Or call 941-962-5944. X (formerly Twitter): @vinmannix.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: TSA teams from Braden River High and Nolan Middle School celebrate national championships