APS to Host Second Annual Programming Competition

APS is hosting the 2nd Inaugural APS High School Programming Competition (APS HSPC) on Sat, Feb. 7, from 10:45 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Arlington Career Center (ACC).

This event is run by current APS students with Yorktown senior Gabriel Cohen taking the lead this year. The students are supported by ACC Computer Science teachers Jeff Elkner and Chris Jones.

Jeff Elkner explained, “The Arlington HSPC exemplifies the student-led project-based learning we do at Arlington Career Center. Organized and run completely by students, the contest encourages the study of this important field and encourages students to build their skills.”

Last year, nearly 60 students attended the inaugural competition. The event was an overwhelming success, and the team looks forward to a similar one this year.

The contest is open to middle and high schoolers within APS. All students are welcome, regardless of programming experience. High school programming contests are a fantastic way for everybody to learn more about computer science. Both seasoned programmers and absolute beginners are encouraged to come and improve their programming skills.

The event website is https://aps-hspc.pages.dev/
Registration is open until Feb. 5: Google Form

Students will be challenged with a wide variety of algorithmic programming problems. Working in teams of up to three students, they will write code to solve the problems. If a student does not have a team, a team will be provided for them. Allowed programming languages are Python, Java, and C++.