Westminster College Students Participate in Regional Computer Programming Contest

Two teams of Westminster College students participated in the 2015 Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) East Central North American Programming Contest at Youngstown State University.

The regional contest provides college students with opportunities to sharpen and demonstrate their problem-solving, programming, and teamwork skills.

Westminster College’s teams were under the direction of Dr. John Bonomo, professor of computer science, contest problem contributor and head judge. 

Each of the 130 teams were given a set of nine programming problems and five hours to solve as many as possible. Points were allocated based on the number of problems solved correctly, as well as the speed in which problems were solved. 

Westminster’s first team, consisting of Anthony Groves, Chris Phillips and Mark Patton, came in number 65. Team two, made up of Zach Dernar and Josh Stevens, placed 75.

Winning teams this year were from Waterloo University, Ohio State University and Carnegie Mellon University.

“It was an honor to represent Westminster in the contest,” said Groves, junior computer science major. “Even though the competition was difficult, it was a great opportunity to compete against students from larger colleges and universities.”

For more information about the competition, contact Bonomo at bonomojp@westminster.edu or (724) 946-7287, or learn more about computer science at Westminster College. 

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LEARN MORE ABOUT THE STUDENT AWARD WINNERS: 

Zachary Dernar, a senior computer science major, is a son of David Dernar and a graduate of Central Cambria High School.

Anthony Groves, a junior computer science major, is a son of Keith and Debra Groves and a graduate of Trinity High School.

Mark Patton, a senior computer science major, is a son of Thomas and Karen Patton and a graduate of Mohawk Area High School.

Christopher Phillips, a senior computer science major, is a son of Howard and Karen Phillips and a graduate of Wilmington Area High School. 

Joshua Stevens, a senior computer science major, is a son of John and Kimberly Stevens and a graduate of Clayton High School.

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