Overview: BDPA High School Computer Competition

The BDPA High School Computer Competition (HSCC) was founded in 1986. What started as a two-team event between Washington DC and Atlanta GA has grown to over 20 teams from BDPA chapters around the nation. It’s designed to introduce our youth to the field of information technology and encouraging them to seek higher levels of education, and groom many of them become our next generation of IT professionals.

The HSCC program consists of three parts: Oral Questioning, Computerized Examination and a Programming Component. On the first day there is an oral round robin of questions. Also, there is a computerized examination using Adit Quiz Software. Each student is given 15 minutes to answer as many questions as they can. Questions for these first two stages of the competition cover a variety of computer fundamentals and BDPA history.

On the second day, each team is given a Program Specification for a challenging business problem. They have seven hours and one computer to analyze, design, program and document a solution to the problem. In building their business application, the teams have a choice between technologies such as: Java Technology (Sun Microsystems), Software PHP (Open Source), .NET (Microsoft). Students use these technologies in conjunction with SQL to retrieve data from a database and generate dynamic HTML content for display in a web browser. They are then required to present their solution to a team of judges.

Check out this behind-the-scenes video of the programming challenge from a past HSCC championship.

2012 National HSCC Champions

The winning teams are announced on the final night of the annual conference as part of the Awards Gala. It is a tense and joyous moment for all the HSCC students. It is also a very memorable moment as evidenced by the many HSCC testimonials that we've gathered over the years.

BDPA Education and Technology Foundation wants to give out college scholarships to high-performing students in the annual HSCC championships. We cannot do so without your support. Please think hard about what you've read ... and give as your heart drives you. You can make your secure online donation in support of BDPA college scholarships right now!