Springs Students Awarded at UAB Programming Challenge

Indian Springs students claimed nine top-ten individual awards in two divisions and the first-place team award at the 2018 University of Alabama at Birmingham High School Programming Challenge on Feb. 17. This is the team’s second year to compete in the competition.

The challenge invites talented Alabama high school students to demonstrate their computer programming skills by attempting to solve eight problems in a three-hour period. The solutions (which must be coded in Java or C++ or Python) are subjected to multiple tests through a rigorous computerized scoring system. Points are earned for every test the solution passes.

The winning team and individual category (Upper School and Lower School) award winners received a $400 cash award, and runner-ups won $200 and $100. Awards were made possible by the academic publication groups MIT Press, Pearsons, and Taylor and Francis.

Indian Springs awards included

Team
First Place | Indian Springs School ($400)

Upper School (Grades 11-12)
First Place | Spencer Robinson ’19 ($400)
Second Place | Tenniel Miao ’19 ($200)
Third Place | Richard Wohlbold ’19 ($100)
Top Ten | Valentino Lim ’18

Lower School (Grades 9-10)
Third Place | Dylan Le ’20 ($100)
Top Ten | Jack Swanner ’21
Top Ten | Gio Garza ’20
Top Ten | Jocelyn Lyu ’20
Top Ten | Mike Jiang ’20

Computer Sciences Chair William Belser ’80, who has been teaching programming at Springs for two and a half years, says, “I knew we had some kids who were really good at this and would probably place highly at the competition. I’m very proud of them, but I’m equally proud of the kids who have only passed an introductory programming class and were still ready to give it a shot. Going out there and doing your best is what Springs is all about.”

Congratulations to the entire team and coaches William Belser and Dr. Jonathan Gray! Go Springs!