Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative (SMECO), which hosted its 26th annual Southern Maryland High School Computer Bowl on March 7, encourages the computer programmers of tomorrow by sponsoring the competition. With information technology firmly embedded in daily life, electric utilities like SMECO depend heavily on computer equipment to help keep the lights on for their customers. Utilities also depend on technology experts who know how to create and maintain software programs that ensure that all computerized systems run efficiently.
This year’s Computer Bowl, held at North Point High School in Charles County, featured 80 young computer experts in a test of their coding skills and technical knowledge. Sponsors for the annual competition are SMECO, the College of Southern Maryland, Booz Allen Hamilton, and the public school systems of Calvert, Charles, and St. Mary’s counties.
Twenty teams from nine high schools in Southern Maryland faced the challenging literacy and programming tests in the Computer Bowl. In the first round of the competition, students took a written test of their knowledge of computer history, hardware, and software. In the second round, teams of three to four students created computer programs to solve specific problems, using programming languages such as Java and Visual Basic. Charles County Public Schools equipped each team with two laptops for the programming portion of the competition.
Taking the top spot was Calvert County’s Northern High School. Team members were Erin Estes, Matthew Heide, Michael Lindsey, and Amanda Spyropoulos, coached by Victoria Longsworth.
Huntingtown High School, also from Calvert County, won second place with team members Tommy Nguyen, J.T. Ottenwaelder, Tristan Perry, and James Yoe, coached by Tom Currier.
La Plata High School in Charles County took third place with team members Reid Hancock, Aaron Hipkins, Douglas Kalmus, and Cody McGinnis, coached by Richard Williams.
In fourth place was Great Mills High School in St. Mary’s County, with team members Sharlene Chui, Kevin DiCola, Logan Dudley, and Zachary Smith, coached by Nora Blasko.
Winners received plaques and trophies. SMECO awarded gift cards to the top four teams. The College of Southern Maryland also provided the first-place winners with performance awards.
Booz Allen Hamilton employees John Chen, Alan Cooper, Carrie Dalton, Whitney Dilliard, Patti Ferraer, Mike Hammett, Laurie Lawrence, David Sanborn, and Douglas Sanborn served as judges for the competition. Joe Burgin from the College of Southern Maryland and Karen Lusk of Naval Air Systems Command also served as judges. Lora Bennett and John Stine with Charles County Public Schools developed the literacy and programming tests used in the competition.