BDPA Southern Minnesota HSCC Team (2012)

HSCC Team Left to Right: Mike Espey, Herchran Singh, Daniel Sheppard, Prabhjot Singh and Hassan Hassan)

BDPA Southern Minnesota students earned 4th place in 2012 national High School Computer Competition (HSCC) championship held earlier this month in Baltimore. The HSCC competition comprises three components: oral testing, written testing and a programming project. The difference between the competitors was very small, and the judges had great challenges in assigning scores, according to BDPA So. Minnesota chapter president Melcon Hinds. [SOURCE]

The five Rochester students prepared for the competition by participating in a two-month "boot camp" this summer, during which they honed their programming, project management and presentation skills for up to 20 hours per week.

The team was selected from a pool of students that met each Saturday between December and May. The students, in grades 7 through 12, learn how to create database-driven web applications using HTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP and MySQL.

Brian Brownlow and Gord Singh are the technical coordinators and lead instructors for the Southern Minnesota chapter. Jongy Calvert is the administrator coordinator. More than a dozen volunteers from IBM and Mayo Clinic assist the class, called the Southern Minnesota Youth Computer Training Program.

"While our goal this year was to win, I'm most proud of our students for their resolve to compete at the highest level in web development programming," Hinds said. "Their commitment to spend three hours each Saturday between December and May should be applauded. The preparation, work ethic and teamwork that these students show throughout the year leading up to the competition, as well as time spend helping the next generation of students in the program, leave me in awe."