2017 SuperQuest Spring Conference Recap

On Saturday, March 18 we held our 1st professional development event of 2017. The 2017 SuperQuest Spring Conference & High School Programming Contest was combined event held at George Fox University in Newberg, OR.  SuperQuest Spring Conference attendees had the choice to attend either 1 day long workshop or 4 mini (90 min) workshops. Additionally there was a morning only (3 hour) workshop for school district decision makers and curriculum directors.  Descriptions of the workshop curricula and a registration link can be found here. In between our morning and afternoon workshops, we hosted a lunch and learn with several invited speakers for all the attendees and instructions. Terrel Smith (president, OregonCSTA) served as MC and led off with the nomination of Andrew Scholer (Chemeketa Community College Computer Science program chair) as the next president of Oregon CSTA. Ron Tenison (Connecting Liaison, NCWIT Northwest Aspirations) then spoke about the NCWIT Aspirations in Computing program. Helen Henry (PNW Regional Manager, TEALS) spoke about how she is working to help Oregon high schools build and grow sustainable computer science programs by partnering classroom teachers with tech industry volunteers.  Rich Vial (Rep OR District 26) told a very moving story about how his teachers inspired him to pursue excellence in school and eventually a career in law.  He also spoke about his support of Career and Technical Education programs and Measure 98.   Terrel ended the lunch and learn with the message that all SuperQuest participants are members of the Oregon Computer Science Teachers Association and exhorted them to help further OregonCSTA’s mission to eventually bring computer science education to all K-12 schools in Oregon.

High School Programming Contest Recap

Along with these workshops, the George Fox Computer Science Department hosted the 2017 High School Programming Contest.  New for this year, there were 2 divisions (Div-I and Div-II). Division II consisted of students who were in the beginning stages of developing their algorithmic problem-solving skills and have not previously placed 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in a programming contest. Division I was open to all high school students and entailed more advanced algorithmic topics. 56 students (15 teams) competed in Division-II and 65 students (17 teams ) competed in Division-I for a total of 121 students, which was AMAZING!