WMU hosts Michigan high school students for programming competition

KALAMAZOO, Mich.—Western Michigan University’s College of Engineering and Applied Sciences hosted its first ever high school computer programming contest Saturday, Nov. 15, showcasing the talents of the future generation of computer scientists and engineers.  

Students from the Kalamazoo Area Math and Science Center (KAMSC), Pioneer High School (Ann Arbor) and Harbor Beach Community High School gathered at Floyd Hall, home to the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, to solve a set of problems within a three-hour period. 

Dr. Steve Carr, chair of the Department of Computer Science, served as the chief organizer of the event. He hopes to continue the competition annually.  

“The contest is a great opportunity for high-school students to showcase their programming skills,” says Carr. “I can remember when I was in high school and attended a programming contest. It is a great experience for the students to be challenged and accomplish a set of difficult tasks.” 

The contest was hosted by WMU after Carr was contacted by Shannon Hourtrouw, an instructor for KAMSC. Hourtrouw had hoped for years that Western would host a contest such as this and is ecstatic that it came to fruition.  

“Computer science is a hard subject to just teach,” says Hourtrouw. “Competitions like this provides students with motivation to learn for the rest of the year.”  

KAMSC student, sophomore Connor Cole, expressed how the competition helped him feel more certain about his future.  

“I’m thinking of becoming a software engineer, and this event helped me feel much more prepared by letting me apply my skills outside of the classroom,” says Cole. “It was exciting to figure stuff out, especially when it was hard.”  

There were two divisions in the contest—the beginner division, and the advanced division. Three teams in each division were awarded based on their ability and pace solving the problems.  

Claire Yuan, a KAMSC sophomore, whose team won first place in the beginner division, noted the way the environment made the competition more exciting.  

“It was a great experience and a good foundation for future competitions,” says Yuan.  

The winners of the competition are listed below.  

Beginner

1. Ctrl Alt Elite (KAMSC) 

Advanced 

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