Fifty high school students from five schools visited Lamar on Jan. 26 to compete in the Association of Computing Machinery High School Programming Contest. The event was hosted by First Year Success (FYS) and Lamar University’s Chapter of Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) and was held at the Department of Computer Science on the LU campus.

“The contest is part of FYS’s College Readiness pilot program, which seeks to effectively integrate college readiness, academic success, and academic engagement to tackle the challenges students face in the first year of their college experience,” said Jane Liu, a professor of computer science at Lamar.

Students from four schools - Liberty Sabine Pass, Little Cypress-Mauriceville, Seven Lakes, and Friendswood - participated in both individual writing and team programming.

After the competition, the students got a taste of Lamar University student life. They had lunch with LU computer science students and faculty at the Brooks-Shivers Dining Hall, followed by a campus tour.

The award ceremony was held in the afternoon at the Price Auditorium; participants heard from Computer Science Department Chair Stefan Andrei and Lamar ACM Faculty Advisor Xingya Liu, on the topics of computing and cyber security technology.

Beginner Group

Individual Written Contest Awards:

First: Shammo Biswas, Friendswood

Second: Benjamin Kuo, Friendswood

Third: Landon Acord, Little Cypress-Mauriceville, and Kendal Wiggins, Friendswood

Fourth: Seth Sartin, Little Cypress-Mauriceville

Fifth: Grayson Brister, Little Cypress-Mauriceville

Advanced Group

Individual Written Contest Awards:

First: Tyler Comeaux, Little Cypress-Mauriceville

Second: Sameer Gupta, Seven Lakes

Third: Nick Mugleston, Little Cypress-Mauriceville, Dajhaun Myles, Little Cypress-Mauriceville, Naveen Vent, Seven Lakes

Fourth: Kird Blood, Sabine Pass

Beginner Group

Team Programming Contest Awards:

First: Kendal Wiggins, Jakr Halaska, Ryan Houting, Friendswood

Second: Shammo Biswas, Benjamin Kuo, Masha Larina, Friendswood

Third: Landon Acord, Grayson Brister, Darby Watson, Little Cypress-Mauriceville
 
Advanced Group

Team Programming Contest Awards:

First: Sameer Gupta, Naveen Venkat, Shanth Koka, Seven Lakes

Second: Nick Mugleston, Dajhaun Myles, Sukhjot Singh, Little Cypress-Mauriceville

Third: Austin Girouard, Skyler Bohn, Tyler Comeaux, Little Cypress-Mauriceville


Three students received the Lamar First Year Success Scholarship sponsored by Lamar’s Scholarship Office:

Tyler Comeaux, Little Cypress-Mauriceville - ($1,500)
Sameer Gupta, Seven Lakes - ($1,500)
Nick Mugleston, Little Cypress-Mauriceville - ($1,500)

 

See the video for this contest at https://youtu.be/IldcsWms9uY.