The 29th Annual High School Programming Contest, sponsored and hosted by Siena College’s Computer Science department, brought talented students from nine Capital Region high schools to campus on Friday, April 1.
More than one hundred and forty contestants participated in the 3 ½ hour long competition, which tested their programming skills, in either Java or Python programming, and problem-solving abilities. The contest consisted of a seven-problem set of high school logic, with four students working on each team with one computer at hand. The purpose of this set-up was to reinforce the notion of teamwork within the 37 partaking teams, since one solution to a problem can be made at a time.
Due to the incredible turnout for the event, 40 Siena computer science students and eight members of Computer Science faculty volunteered their time to help out on the third floor of Roger Bacon Hall.
“The number of high school participants has been increasing in recent years. This is the maximum number our space and computer systems will handle,” said James Matthews, professor of mathematics and computer science at Siena and contest coordinator. “About 40% of this year's participants have participated in the past, which means that about 90% of the seniors came back for at least the second time.”
Just like last year, this year’s top three winners included Niskayuna, Shenendehowa, and Columbia High Schools. According to Matthews, the contest was “very successful” as one of the teams from Niskayuna High School came in first place. They correctly completed all seven problems, which marks another milestone in history, as they are the sixth team in the 29 years to do so. A team from Shenendehowa High School came in second place with six correct submissions, and the representative team from Columbia High School finished in third with five correct.
“If demand keeps growing, we are thinking of holding a J.V. level contest in the future,” commented Matthews. “This is a great event for high school students, [and] does help high school students get to know Siena and our computer science department.”
