On November 11, students currently enrolled in computer science courses participated in Bebra’s International Computational Thinking Challenge, and the results were just released. This online problem-solving competition challenged participants to break down puzzles into smaller steps to solve them, just as you would need to approach a problem when writing a computer program. Freshmen and sophomores competed in the junior division, while juniors and seniors were part of the senior division. The problem set consisted of 15 problems worth varying point values depending on difficulty, and the competition was timed at 45 minutes. Penalty points were charged for incorrect solutions, so students had to decide whether they were confident enough in a problem’s solution to submit it for scoring.

• 

• 

In the junior division, freshman Andrew O’Toole came out with the top score for all WHS participants, scoring a school-best 132 out of 180 points. Andrew is currently in enrolled in Computer Programming I, studying Python programming. Second place in the junior division went to Atreyu Blahnik, who is currently studying Digital Electronics, and third place went to Computer Concepts student Viktor Goldsmith.

In the senior division, Digital Electronics senior Jon Chan came out on top, earning 128 out of 180 possible points. Arno Crowley, currently working on an independent Senior Project, placed second. There was a three-way tie for third between Digital Electronics student Tyjai Geoghan, AP Computer Science student Andrew Swartz, and Cisco Networking Academy student Nicholas Weirich.

Bebra’s is an annual competition that all Whitewater High School students are invited to challenge themselves to complete.

Article and Photos Submitted by Laura Masbruch
Whitewater High School Computer Science Teacher and Banner Volunteer
lmasbruch@wwusd.org