State math, science school wins coding contest's 1st place

Karsen Beck, Noah Raby and William Shaver from the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts in Hot Springs made up the team that was the top-place winner of Gov. Asa Hutchinson's All-State Coding Competition.

The students received 529 College Savings Plan scholarships of $2,000.

Bradley Baltz, Lucas Jaggernauth, and Austin Parker from Haas Hall Academy in Rogers placed second, with each receiving $1,000 scholarships deposited into 529 plans.

The third-place team of Owen Bell, Julian Sanker, and Daniel Whitmire from Haas Hall Academy at Fayetteville each received 529 College Savings Plan scholarships totaling $500.

In addition to the individual scholarships, the schools that sponsored the winning teams were awarded $10,000, $6,000, and $4,000, respectively, to support their computer science programs.

An initial 122 teams from across the state participated in regionally held coding competitions. The top 16 teams from the regional competitions, along with a team from last year's first-place school, competed in the All-State Competition that was held Saturday at the University of Arkansas' Bell Engineering Center in Fayetteville.

"The increasing number of schools that compete each year and the caliber of the competitors shows that coding is catching on all over Arkansas," Hutchinson said about the competition.

The Arkansas Department of Education Spokesman Kimberly Friedman said that Verizon -- a third-year sponsor of the statewide contest -- donated $50,000 to ARCodeKids to support the competition again this year. The company announced it would also contribute $50,000 to sponsor next year's competition, Friedman said, with a portion of those funds to be used to train and certify computer science teachers across the state.

NW News on 05/22/2019

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