High School Hack-A-Thon Fosters Interest in Coding and Computer Science

Close to 320 Longwood High School students recently participated in the Annual Hack-a-Thon, an innovative computer science programming event designed to spark students’ interest in computer programming.

This event, hosted by the Coding Club and the Mathematics Department, encourages students to work collaboratively. At the same time, they compete in two unique coding competitions, using both Scratch and Python, to solve challenging tasks, including programming a T1 Innovator Rover. Throughout the event, students learned to write computer programs, and the importance of the iterative development process utilized by researchers and engineers to solve challenging problems in the real world.

“The Hack-a-Thon provides students with new skills and tools needed for future career opportunities,” said Mathematics and Computer Science Teacher John Hirdt. “It’s important for more students to get involved in computer science since nearly everything is computer science or computer-based. It’s amazing how many students, whether advanced or beginner, are participating this year. We’ve increased our participation from 200 last year to 317 this year!” 

In addition to the competition, numerous presenters from diverse industries and colleges challenged our students with critical thinking problems, encouraging them to think creatively and apply their coding skills to solve complex tasks.

At the end of the competition, students earned prizes donated by local businesses, including gift cards and apparel.