Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Message from Los Angeles Chapter HSCC Coordinator

Beverly Allen has been the HSCC coordinator for our BDPA Los Angeles chapter for a number of years. She watched her son, Terell, participate in national HSCC championships in 2007-2009 before going off to college at Morehouse College.

She shared the following update on the young people that represented BDPA Los Angeles chapter at the recently concluded national conference in Baltimore, MD.

Our Youth Technology Camp (YTC) students began their week by getting hands-on with multimedia. Students were assigned to cross-chapter teams that were responsible for directing, filming, editing, and producing their own video. Student participants also attended a workshop where they learned how to build mobile applications via the Android platform. Toward the end of the week, students received a guided tour of Northrop Grumman’s corporate headquarters. During the tour, students were able to view and ask questions about radars, the evolution and business impact of the microchip, and how radars are actually tested via Northrop Grumman’s fleet of aircraft near the Baltimore airport. Most importantly, students learned the value of degrees in Computer Science and Engineering from Northrop Grumman staff during each stage of the tour.

Our High School Computer Competition (HSCC) students participated in the software programming portion of the conference. After many months of coding, presentation preparation, and team leadership training, our students went into the competition fully prepared. This year’s business case involved developing an application that allowed a customer to select and purchase DVDs. After 9 hours of laying out a plan, coding, and presenting to a panel of judges; out came 5 tired students. Our team completed the entire business case and impressed the judges with their presentation ability.



In the end, our HSCC team placed 3rd out of 17 competing teams from 45 chapters! This was the first time in BDPA Los Angeles’ history to make it to the stage and receive a team scholarship award. It was also a huge improvement over last year’s performance (14th place).

Many thanks to our major sponsor (Raytheon Company), our host facility (Cal State Dominguez Hills) and all of the volunteers, parents, and enthusiastic students who made this year’s youth computer science program our best yet!

Please take a moment to support the success of the BDPA Los Angeles chapter by donating now to their college scholarship fund.

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