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Fifty high school computer science students competed in ËÄ»¢Ó°ÊÓ’s ACM High School Programming Contest. The contest, hosted by First Year Success and Lamar Chapter of Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) on Jan. 26, 2019, is part of First Year Success’s College Readiness pilot program.

First Year Success (FYS) 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. Professor Jane Liu and Assistant Professor Xingya Liu organized the contest, held at the Department of Computer Science on the LU campus.

The high school students and their teachers, Tonnia Carr, Rene Danna, Terry Morris, Paul Stroud, and Annette Walter, are from Liberty, Sabine Pass, Little Cypress-Mauriceville, Seven Lakes, and Friendswood high schools.

Students competed in both individual writing and team programming in the morning. After the competition, the students and teachers had lunch with LU computer science students and faculty at the Brooks-Shivers Dining Hall and then visited the Sheila Umphrey Recreational Sports Center, Setzer Student Center, and Mary and John Gray Library through a campus tour led by undergraduates Bayleigh Smith and Ebuka Nwosu from the LU Welcome Center and Campus Experience. 

In the afternoon award ceremony at Price Auditorium, participants heard from Computer Science Department Chair Stefan Andrei and Lamar ACM faculty advisor Xingya Liu, learning about the Computing as well as Cyber Security technology. April M Marroquin from Admission Office shared information about ËÄ»¢Ó°ÊÓ and scholarship opportunities.

Nine ËÄ»¢Ó°ÊÓ computer science undergraduates (Lamar ACM student members) and one math graduate student leading the contest were Madison Boudreaux, John Comeaux, Ann Chapple, Thomas King, Bonnie Elleins, Jamie McAndrew, Aaron Phillips, Aleythia Gutierrez, Diego Fernandez, and Nick Castillo.

Individual Written Contest Awards in Beginner Group were awarded to: Shammo Biswas, Friendswood, first place; Benjamin Kuo, Friendswood, second; Landon Acord, Little Cypress-Mauriceville, third; Kendal Wiggins, Friendswood, third; Seth Sartin, Little Cypress-Mauriceville, fourth; and Grayson Brister, Little Cypress-Mauriceville, fifth.

Individual Written Contest awards in advanced group: Tyler Comeaux, Little Cypress-Mauriceville, first place; Sameer Gupta, Seven Lakes, second; Nick Mugleston, Little Cypress-Mauriceville, third; Dajhaun Myles, Little Cypress-Mauriceville, third; Naveen Vent, SevenLakes , third; and Kird Blood, Sabine Pass, fourth.

Team Programming Contest awards in beginner group: Kendal Wiggins, Jakr Halaska, Ryan Houting, Friendswood, first place; Shammo Biswas, Benjamin Kuo, Masha Larina, Friendswood, second; and Landon Acord, Grayson Brister, Darby Watson, Little Cypress-Mauriceville, third.

Team Programming Contest awards in advanced group:Sameer Gupta, Naveen Venkat, Shanth Koka, Seven Lakes, first place; Nick Mugleston, Dajhaun Myles, Sukhjot Singh, second place; and Austin Girouard, Skyler Bohn, Tyler Comeaux, Little Cypress-Mauriceville, third.

Three students received Lamar First Year Success Scholarship sponsored by Lamar Scholarship Office. They are Tyler Comeaux, Little Cypress-Mauriceville  ($1,500), Sameer Gupta, Seven Lakes  ($1,500), Nick Mugleston, Little Cypress-Mauriceville ($1,500). 

The video for this contest is available at .