Computer science students presented their solutions to real world problems at the annual End-of-year Computer Science competition on April 20. The top eight teams presented on stage to executives from companies like American Airlines and Ericsson North America,

“I have always said I wanted these students to have real world experience,” computer science teacher Shawn McBrayer said. “One of the things that we used to do in the professional technology world was come up with these ideas and products. We’d try to get people to invest in them. This is an experience for [these students] to do the same thing.”

Awards include the title of overall winner, and a lunch or mentorship with executives from Ericsson North America.

“They [Ericsson North America] gave us great advice last year on how we could better and expand our tool,” senior Suhana Arora said. “The ideas that the lunch and learn will provide us with are extensive.”

The teams were composed of students from Computer Science 1, AP Computer Science A, and Computer Science 3 classes and were randomly assigned. While this caused a few struggles, having a strong foundation and leader helped many teams.

“Our team wasn’t the best at communication,” sophomore Pranav Thoppay said. “Our team leader worked really hard and tried to keep everyone calm, eventually leading us to get everything done.” 

Team members practiced skills they learned throughout the year, motivated to present well in front of the executives. 

“While presenting on the auditorium stage, I felt pride in my team and the hard work we put in,” Thoppay said.