17 teams to compete in computer coding competition in April

FILE - The Arkansas Tech University campus in Russellville on Oct. 5, 2022. 
(Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Stephen Swofford)
FILE - The Arkansas Tech University campus in Russellville on Oct. 5, 2022. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Stephen Swofford)

Seventeen teams will advance to the eighth annual all-state coding competition at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville on April 20, the Arkansas Department of Education has announced.

More than 140 teams competed in an all-region coding competition March 1. The Arkansas Department of Education Office of Computer Science used a common rubric and process to select the top 16 teams.

Conway High School, which placed first in the 2023 state competition, received an automatic invitation to this year's state competition.

The following teams will advance:

Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts: Jameil Modica, Tim Palmer and Madeline Liachenko. Sponsor: Nicholas Seward.

Bentonville High School: Oliver Catagnus, Jack Morris and McKay Hatch. Sponsor: William Oliver.

Bentonville West High School: Veera Sai Joshik Unnam, Miles Briscoe Higman and Jhon Javier Perez-Rodriguez. Sponsor: Matthew Possehl.

Cabot High School: Kaiba Ali, Chandler G. Ford and Chance Von Reed. Sponsor: Michael Calvert.

Conway High School: Ellie Feng, Thomas Ryan Coolidge and Hudson Taylor Ledbetter. Sponsor: Kimberly Raup.

eStem High School: Harold Lopez-Moral, Evan Stice and Jack Lesher. Sponsor: Phillip Blake.

Farmington High School: Nathan Glover and Russell Flory. Sponsor: Alex Long.

Fayetteville High School: Jackson D. Christiansen, Sofia Anna Shepard and Vincent Misu Baxley. Sponsor: Emery Faulkner.

Haas Hall Academy-Fayetteville: Jack Reece Hare, Yahya Salim Sridjajamerta and Praket Gauri. Sponsor: Margaret Cotton.

Haas Hall Academy-Rogers: Ivan A.H. Freeman, Xavier Kapity and Alex Schwartz. Sponsor: Amy Schwartz.

Lisa West High School: Dilasa Yaman, Ahmet Fatih Yaman and Hayati Sahin. Sponsor: Clarissa Harpool.

Little Rock Central High School: Amrita Choudhary, Abraham Patrick Baldwin and Saloni Chodhary. Sponsor: John Justiss.

Mena High School: Dorian Alexander Knight, Zachary Morgan Sweet and Joseph Allen Cude. Sponsor: Krystal Titsworth.

Rogers High School: Nicholas Robinson, Jai Gandhi and Deven Nguyen. Sponsor: Jeffery Anderson.

Rogers New Tech High School: Jaxon Pittman, Dallas Parker Craig and Matthew Castillo. Sponsor: Keith Godlewski.

Russellville High School: Logan Greggs, Gavin Hurbanek and Logan Magill. Sponsor: Ethan Hodge.

Valley View High School: Dalton Morphis, Kaydan Tran and Charles Kelly. Sponsor: Bryan Creech.

Each member of the first-place team will receive a $2,000 award that will be deposited into a 529 College Savings Plan.

Second-place team members will receive a $1,000 award and third-place team members will receive a $500 award, both to be deposited into a 529 College Savings Plan.

Schools that register/sponsor the first-, second- and third-place teams will receive $10,000, $6,000 and $4,000, respectively, to support their computer science programs.

The student prizes are provided by a grant from ARCodeKids, a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization that works with national foundations, philanthropists, private and public companies, state agencies, school districts and local communities to provide young people in the Arkansas with opportunities to learn and use computer science skills.

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