2013 National BDPA High School Computer Competition (HSCC) Rankings

2013 HSCC Champions from Rochester, MN

The 2013 National BDPA High School Computer Competition (HSCC) championships were held in Washington. We had 16 teams competing in 2013. The tension during the 2 days of the competition centered around the team trained by BDPA Southern Minnesota chapter. This chapter won 6 of the past 7 national competitions and arrived in Washington DC seeking to defeat the defending champion BDPA Atlanta chapter.

The winning team from Southern Minnesota included five students --  Isaac Gullickson, Preethiya Sekar, Daniel Sheppard, Herchran Singh and Prabhjot Singh.

Here are the rankings for all 16 teams that competed in 2013 national HSCC championships with the scholarship winnings for each student in parenthesis:

• Southern Minnesota ($1,500 college scholarship for each member)
• Los Angeles ($1,000 each)
• Atlanta ($500 each)
• Washington DC ($500 each)
• Cincinnati
• Twin Cities
• New York
• Greater Columbia
• Chicago
• Charlotte
• Detroit
• Dallas
• Middle Tennessee
• Philadelphia
• Triangle
• New Jersey
• St. Louis

Our foundation seeks to increase the number of students that receive Bemley Scholarships. To do so, we need your help. Please consider making an online donation to help us interest young people in science and technology.

BDPA iRadio Show: December 22, 2015 (Dr. Will Bundy, Herchran Singh, Rene' Yarborough)

BDPA Education and Technology Foundation (BETF) is very proud to be the creator of the BDPA iRadio Show. You can listen to the archive version of the show using the widget shown in the right-hand sidebar of this blog. FREE download from the iTunes Store is also available for our listeners!

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The guest on the December 22nd show:

Dr. Will Bundy

Dr. Will Bundy - director, The Gravely Group - Dr. Will Bundy is a proven warrior having served our nation as a submariner in the US Navy. Dr. Bundy is is currently focused on the future of technology.  He wants to ensure that BDPA is aware of the work being done with autonomous controls and unmanned systems.  In his past, Dr. Bundy expanded BDPA's vision of corporate relations when he negotiated on behalf of FleetBoston Financial the first Platinum-level corporate sponsorship in BDPA's history.   He served from 2003-2007 as an Outside Director on the National BDPA Board of Directors.   Dr. Bundy is the creator of the annual corporate and individual Epsilon Awards presented at each conference by BDPA.   He offers a unique perspective to the good works of BDPA that we look forward to sharing with our BDPA iRadio Show audience.  You can follow Will on Twitter -- @GravelyThe.

Herchran Singh

Herchran Singh - college student, Gustavus Adolphus College - Herchran Singh is a junior at Gustavus Adolphus College.   She is a long-time member of the BDPA Southern Minnesota chapter.  She competed 3 times (2011-2013) as part of the chapter's High School Computer Competition (HSCC) team ... earning Dr.Jesse Bemley Scholarships each year from her participation.  Her team won the championship in 2011 and 2013.   This past year she won the bronze medal in the 2nd Annual BDPA Mobile Application Showcase ... earning a State Farm college scholarship.   Herchran is hardworking and strives for excellence through the deep desire to learn. She leads others by activating, motivating, and encouraging them to reach their highest potential.  She has been on the Dean's List at her college and she won the Aspirations in Computing Award from the National Center for Women in Information Technology in 2013.  Her BDPA legacy is powerful and our BDPA iRadio Show will enjoy hearing her thoughts on BDPA and her preparation to compete at the annual conference over the past five years!  You can follow Herchran on Twitter - @herchranksp

Rene' Yarborough

Rene' Yarborough - senior manager, Baxter International - Rene' Yarborough is a senior IT manager at Baxter International. She has been in BDPA for many years as she moved from Cincinnati to Philadelphia to Chicago. She was recently elected as the Administrative Vice President of our BDPA Chicago chapter. Our BDPA iRadio Show audience looks forward to hearing about the BDPA journey of Rene' as well as her aspirations for the future of BDPA Chicago chapter.  You can follow Rene' on Twitter - @renerochelle

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We hope you enjoy the insights and commentary on the show from each of these guests. Please take a moment to post a comment to let us know that you care!

Wordless Wednesday: 2011 National BDPA High School Computer Competition Champions

Wordless Wednesday: National BDPA High School Computer Competition Champions (Southern Minnesota, 2011)

SOURCE: BDPA Foundation Photostream on Flickr

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."