With only eight weeks of experience, senior Jacob Herrington and his team start their packet at the High School Programming Contest. Students from Mrs. Dottie Hill’s computer science class competed in this contest on Saturday, March 9 at the University of Arkansas.

“We performed very well,” said Herrington. “We beat teams with more experience.”

The U of A College of Engineering sponsored this contest where participants were given a packet of eight problems with three hours to solve them using any coding language they knew.

Mrs. Hill had students volunteer and create their own teams of two to three to compete. Mrs. Hill had five teams decide to compete, which is more than she expected.

“I had my students compete in this contest because it’s good problem solving exercises and they can network and meet other programmers,” said Mrs. Hill.

Students were not awarded an overall prize, but could win door prizes. The prizes were not what students benefited from in this competition.

“I think competing in this contest was beneficial to me because I think it opens you to real world problems that are more challenging,” said junior Keifer Laverty.

Competing in this contest has helped students in their future careers.

“This contest has opened doors so that I can succeed later in life,” said sophomore Chandler Laymon.

To prepare for this contest Mrs. Hill had them work on released practice problems during class and on their own time.  She also held mock competitions where the first team done presented their work to the class.

Students who competed in this contest received more than just recognition. They received real world experience and confidence in what they do.

“ I think the students benefited from the contest because they found out that they are just as good as other programming students,” said Mrs. Hill. “They also gain exposure to different programs.”