8th Regional Secondary School Programming Competition

The School of Computer Science once again played host to a number of eager high school students competing in the 8^th Annual Windsor Regional Secondary School Programming Competition (SSPC) on Friday December 2, 2011.  Seven schools from across the tri-county produced 13 teams that were tasked with solving and coding five unique questions in teams of three, with only one computer per team and three hours to do so.

Massey Secondary claimed the “top coder” award with one of its two official competing teams; “The White Guys” Shawn Liu, Edward Tsai and Angus Kong, a team of grade 11’s placing first and finishing in less than two hours.  Placing second was “Team ZGV” Eric Zhang, Jeremy Gagnier and James Van Veseem from Belle River District High School, coached by Larry Bekich.  Massey’s second official team “Team Ducky” Chen Chang, Lloyd Torres and Sean Han, a team of grade 10’s finished in third place.  Massey coach Mr. Ron MacKenzie also had two additional unofficial teams taking part in the competition, and although unofficial and unable to place, the team of grade 11’s, “The Travelling Salespeople” finished 5 minutes apart from the first placed team the experience they gained, making it worthwhile

The Dean of Science Dr. Marlys Koschinsky awarded prizes to all participants and coaches, with the top 5 placing teams taking home plaques and individual prizes.  This year, Dr. Ziad Kobti, Director of the SSPC and Associate Professor of the School of Computer Science introduced the “Relentless Programmer Award” which was given to the team that showed the most determination throughout the competition.  “Riverside A” took home the award for never giving up and successfully solving a problem with only two minutes left in the competition.  Perseverance pays off.

The organizers were impressed by the amount of skill, hard work and determination displayed by this year’s competitors, with all teams solving at least one problem and all problems being solved by four teams.  Also impressive was the increase in the amount of female competitors, with Dr. Koschinsky remarking that it is particularly refreshing to see an increase in young girls who are showing an active interest in the practical sciences.

Weiwei Zhang, a female competitor from Massey’s unofficial team “The Travelling Salespeople” who finished the competition second but could not place enjoys the challenge that programming and the competition bring; “Solving problems is fun! I just like it!”

Congratulations to all our winners and competitors!

The ranks were as follow:

1st place - Massey Secondary

2nd place - Belle River

3rd place - Massey Secondary

4th place - Kennedy Collegiate Institute

5th place - Riverside (B)

Honourable mention goes to Chatham-Kent Secondary School, Ursuline College and Wallaceburg District Secondary.

It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer.  ~Albert Einstein