Sam W., a junior at Avon High School, punched his ticket to the Future Business Leaders of America’s National Leadership Conference in Chicago in June after a first place showing in the individual coding and programming division at the FBLA’s State Leadership Conference at the Riverside Convention Center in Rochester last month.
Sam is a first-year student in the Computer Information Systems program at Genesee Valley BOCES’ Career and Technical Education Center in Mount Morris. His CIS teacher, Larry Harvey, said the coding and programming competition was Sam’s main event, though he also took second place in the individual cyber security division and third in the individual computer problem solving division.
For the coding and programming competition, competitors were tasked with developing a program for a hypothetical tourism bureau that would suggest attractions for potential visitors to the area. Competitors’ programs had to allow users to search for attractions in the area based on desired attributes like location, type of attraction and amenities, said Harvey. The program had to include at least 50 attractions and users had to be able to define at least five desired attributes to search for an attraction. The prompt was the same across the country to ensure competitors in different states were competing on a level playing field.
“The first part was to design and code the program. This part was submitted on March 1 to be evaluated based on meeting the minimum requirements of the topic, error free coding, and functionality,” Harvey explained. “The second part is a live presentation at the state competition in front of judges. The two scores are combined, and a final result is announced at an awards ceremony ending the three-day event.”
The top four finishers in each division at the state conference in Rochester last month qualified for the national conference in June in Chicago. While Sam took second and third in the Cyber Security and Computer Problem Solving competitions respectively, Harvey said competitors are only allowed to compete in one event at nationals and Sam has chosen to compete in the coding and program event.
“Sam is a very intelligent young man with untapped potential,” said Harvey. “Next year, the national competition will be held in Atlanta, Ga., and I believe Sam will be at that one also.”
The FBLA is a non-profit organization that helps high school students prepare for careers in business through academic competitions, leadership development and educational programs.
Photos courtesy of Larry Harvey
Avon junior Sam W. took first place in the individual coding and programming division, second in the individual cyber security division and third in the individual computer problem solving division at the Future Business Leaders of America’s State Leadership Conference in Rochester last month.