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Transfinder Sponsors Siena College’s 33rd High School Programming Contest
- Posted By: Robb Snyder
- Category Featured, Announcements
Schenectady, NY – June 3, 2021 – Transfinder Corporation and Transfinder CEO Antonio Civitella are the proud sponsors of Siena College’s 33rd High School Programming Contest, an event which brings in the brightest students to tackle real-world programming problems.
This is the third year Transfinder and Civitella have co-sponsored the event.
The event, held June 2, was remote this year, with 12 faculty members working on campus and 22 Siena student volunteers assisting the 207 high school students who signed up to participate.
The high school students made up a total of 60 teams from 19 high schools, mostly in the Capital Region, with a handful from outside the area, including from Dutchess, Rockland, Suffolk and Westchester counties in New York state as well one district in New Jersey. Siena has alum at the Rockland and New Jersey schools, which helped expand the reach of the contest.
Students worked in groups at their schools or a team member’s home or worked individually at separate locations. In some cases, students returned to their schools for the first time in order to work together for this contest. The high school in Lodi, New Jersey, for example, was closed all school year but reopened for the programming students participating in this contest, where teachers provided guidance – and pizza.
Students were divided into two levels, Green, for first-year programmers who are typically juniors, and Gold, for more advanced programming students, typically seniors.
The Gold level winner was Half Hollow Hills High School in Dix Hills, New York, and the Green level winner was Bethlehem High School in Delmar, New York.
The contest consisted of a seven-problem set of high school logic, with four students working on each team. [The questions can be viewed here: http://contest.sienacs.com/].
The purpose of this set up was to reinforce the notion of teamwork within the 60 partaking teams. One of the seven questions is called the Transfinder problem, solving issues such as how to devise the most optimal bus route, since Transfinder develops school bus routing software.
“This is one of those events that I get truly excited about,” said Antonio Civitella, president and CEO of Transfinder. “It is great to see the next generation of programmers tackling real-life problems. I believe this event will be a memorable one for these students. Hopefully some of them will consider applying for programming jobs at Transfinder!”
Civitella said he participated in the second Siena high school programming contests, held in 1987.
“It’s what convinced me to attend Siena,” he said. Civitella’s son Alessio will be handing out the trophies to the winners, which will include first, second and third place for each level.
Jim Matthews, a professor of computer science and mathematics at Siena, said he was glad the event was happening this year even if it was a different format.
“Canceling the contest last spring because of COVID was one of the most disappointing cancellations we had to make and we’re really glad we came up with a way of running the contest remotely this year. We’re hoping that we’re providing these students with a really exciting academic event to help make this year more memorable for them.”
About Transfinder
Founded in 1988 and headquartered in Schenectady, New York, Transfinder is a national leader in intelligent transportation systems, providing transportation management systems and services to municipalities, school districts and adult care facilities. Transfinder, an Inc. magazine “fastest-growing company” for 11 consecutive years, has offices in Austin, Texas, and Shanghai, China. The software company, named a Best Place to Work, Best Company to Work for in New York State and Top Workplace, develops and supports routing and scheduling solutions for optimal transportation logistics. For more information, visit www.transfinder.com.
