BDPA Regional High School Computer Competition
At Bowie State University
Saturday, June 21, 2008
 

Regional HSCC

The Washington, DC Chapter of BDPA will host its Third Regional HSCC. The competition will take place on the campus of Bowie State University in Bowie, Maryland on Saturday, June 21, 2008. We invite BDPA chapters to participate. Please RSVP at hscc@bdpa-dc.org  by May 23, 2008. Your RSVP should include the following:

1) Chapter Name
2) Contact Person
3) HSCC Software Training Platform (Java, ASP, .NET, or PHP)
4) Number of HSCC students
5) Total count of people attending (including HSCC students)
6) Would you be interested in on-campus housing accommodations? (YES/NO)

All RSVPs will be added to email list to receive more information. Please contact HSCC Staff at hscc@bdpa-dc.org  if you have any questions.

Competition Format

• Each team receives 1 question from the chosen topics.
• Each team receives the same number of questions.
• The questions are usually multiple choices.
• Questions are read by a reader to the audience and the specified team is given 20 seconds to answer. The question may be repeated but does not increase the time limit.
• One answer (the first heard) is accepted from the team verbally.

• All members of each team are given a 15 minutes computerized written exam.
• Team members will use software provided by National (Quiz Factory).
• Adding the individual scores of each team member and then dividing by the number of team members calculate the team's score.

• Each team will be given access to one computer with the required system requirements.
• Each team will be given the programming problem at the same time.
• They will be allowed to ask questions regarding the programming problem after it is presented to them. All teams will hear the questions and answers regarding the programming problem.
• Each team will then be allowed to develop their solution and presentation for the judges.
• Once the time allowed for development of the solution has expired, all teams will be removed from their computers.
• The judges will have each team do a 10-minute presentation of their solution.
• The judges will then score the solution using the criteria described below.
• Once all teams have been scored, all judges will get together to review the scores. Any close scores will be evaluated at this time.

Judging Criteria
The judges should use the presentation of the solution by the team as the basis for their scoring. They are allowed to look at source code for the solution. The following topics will be used for the judges scoring:

• Team work and team presentation
• Design (application and GUI)
• Functionality (programming objectives)

Visit JEF.org for 2008 semester registration information. The annual fee for full-time high school, community college, and college students to join BDPA is $15.00.  Click here to enroll today!

• Currently in or entering grades 8 through 12
• Student interviews with HSCC staff
• Parent or guardian interviews with HSCC staff
• Completes HSCC registration form
• $50 annual HSCC registration fee

2007/2008 HSCC Staff

• Mr. Lou Shack, HSCC Assistant Coordinator and Instructor
• Mr. Rodrick Edwards, HSCC Regional Coordinator and Instructor
• Mr. Edward Yeldell, HSCC Coordinator and Instructor

Latest Results & Metrics
On August 18th, 2007, the Washington, D.C. BDPA Chapter HSCC Team won Second Place in The National High School Computer Competition recently held in Washington, D.C.

This year's winners each will receive $2000 towards the College or University of their choice.  Earlier this summer, HSCC Team-2 and HSCC Team-1 captured first and second place respectively during the Northeast Regional HSCC Competition held in June 2007 at Howard University's School of Business. Last year, BDPA's Washington, DC students placed 3rd in National HSCC held in Los Angeles, California and won a total of $2,500 in scholarships.

The Washington, D.C. Chapter continues to receive positive feedback from parents emphasizing our programs continue to make tremendous impacts on their children. Student return rates for these programs continue to increase.   In 2008, BDPA-DC and BDPA-NoVA hope to field several local teams during 2008's Northeast Regional HSCC.

The Chapter's HSCC Team
This year, the National competition was held at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, DC at the BDPA National Conference. The competition team representing Washington, DC comprised five students with the other students eligible to participate in the Youth Technology Camp. Competition teams continue to enjoy all expense paid trips to the National BDPA Technology Conference. All students were allowed to participate in the Student Youth Technology Camp and other planned student activities. The competition team will compete with other chapter teams throughout the United States developing a web application, oral and written competition. The top five teams won college scholarships, computer hardware and advanced gaming software.

The way to select students for competition team is through evaluating their performance. We have created a list of seven criteria that will be given a score. These scores determine which students are prepared for the national competition.

The following is a list of criteria used to evaluation your performance and readiness for the competition:

• Attendance
• Behavior
• Team work
• Quizzes & Exams
• Projects
• Homework assignments
• Presentation skills

See related articles: September 2007 issue and other editions of bdpatoday