BY IVAN SANDERS

STAR STAFF

ivan.sanders@elizabethton.com

When taking on a big stage, recent Hampton graduate Zack Oliver didn’t shy away from the stiff competition that came at him from every state in the United States.

Instead, Oliver proved to be a big ‘Dog that was left standing tall on the porch when the sun set.

That’s because Oliver took second place in the TSA (Technology Student Association) CAD Engineering competition beating out larger STEM school competitors whose focus is mainly on the engineering field.

To advance to the national level, Oliver also won at the state and regional level to be able to advance to the national competition.

“At the regional level, it’s one or two papers but at the national level, it was more of a packet that had seven to eight papers in it,” Oliver said about the steps of his journey.

“They gave me a list of things that the problem which was a vice included. They gave me drawing sheets and dimensions on the vise I had to draw. I had to sift through different standard screw sizes and different types of heads to find which ones I needed for that specific drawing.”

Unlike other competitions where the winner is selected from who finishes first, the competition that Oliver squared off in depended on a more technical aspect.

“It wasn’t who did the problem the fastest, it was whoever had the best drawing and dimensional sheet layouts,” Oliver said.

“We had a total of four hours to draw, starting at 1:30 pm. The regional and state have four hours as well but it is different because it’s not as complex of a problem they give us to draw.

“There were about 60 to 65 people in my competition alone.”

Oliver along with his Hampton High School advisor, Daniel Arnett, made the trip to the national competition that was held just outside of Washington, D.C. in National Harbor, Maryland at the Gaylord Convention Center.

Arnett said when the awards were given, that even after Oliver won the second place trophy, he was questioning what the first place winner had done differently to win.

It was vintage Oliver according to Arnett who says his student always strives to be the best.

“He doesn’t settle for less than the best that he has got,” Arnett said about Oliver. “TSA announces the top 10 and he gets on stage, which is a big deal because I haven’t had a student get on stage in TSA.

“I am ecstatic and then they call him up for second place and I was pretty happy about it but when he comes off stage, he is like what did that kid do that was better than me.

“Your attitude to be the best—I think he has gained that from this class.”

When Arnett began to research the first and third place finisher, he began to realize just what a student from the mountains of Northeast Tennessee had just accomplished.

“The kid from Middleton, Florida who won—they have about 1600 students in their school and they have a project, ‘Lead the Way,’ a designed curriculum that is specific to the engineering base. So, you can go to school just for that,” Arnett stated.

“The third place kid I did a little research on and the TESLA Stem High School, you have to apply to get into and they are ranked number one in the state of Washington as far as high schools and 28th in the nation.

“They are a specific STEM high school so you apply to go to school there to specifically learn science, engineering, technology, and math,” Arnett continued. “Most of the other schools we compete against are STEM schools and some have up to 4,000 students and here we are a small, public school with around 400 to 500 students.”

Oliver said the second place finish was gratifying to him to be able to show that a small school doesn’t have to take a back seat to anyone.

“I feel really good about it because we are a small school and we have a lot fewer students that want to be in this class to compete in the competitions,” Oliver added.

“I feel really good that I can go over there and get second in the nation and bring it back to Hampton so the bigger schools around us know that we are not beneath them in any way.

“We can beat them out. I feel the pride in bringing that home.”

It wasn’t the first time Oliver has had success either in his high school career.

“Zack has been well prepared,” Arnett stated.” He has competed since his sophomore year.

“He has won six state championships—two individual and four as a team member.

It’s pretty unique to walk away and say you have six state championships in anything.

“Zack took it and worked on it at home. Just like sports, you aren’t going to win anything on just what you get at school. You have to practice outside the classroom and he has.”

Oliver will be attending Milligan College beginning in August to study Mechanical Engineering.

When he turns 18, he is in line to interview for an internship at Eastman Chemical Company and hopes to get a few more to improve on his field.

He is the son of Jamie Oliver and the grandson of Richard and Phylis Oliver who he says have given a lot of support in all he has achieved.

Oliver attends Valley Forge Christian Church where the congregation and former pastor Clay Bailey have been very instrumental in his accomplishments.

To the many sponsors that backed him, Oliver wanted to say a special ‘Thank You’ for all their support as well.