Above: High-school students work to solve contest problems during ECOO finals held May 14 in Osgoode’s Moot Court |
A team from North York’s A.Y. Jackson Secondary School won the annual York-sponsored Educational Computing Organization of Ontario (ECOO) programming competition for high-school students hosted by York’s Department of Computer Science & Engineering on held at the Keele campus.
Right: Winning team from A.Y. Jackson Secondary School in North York
The provincial finals, which took place May 14, featured 22 teams of four from across Ontario competing for bragging rights, the York Trophy and cash prizes. Teams earned a spot in the annual competition at four regional finals held in April after winning top placings in their local district school board competitions. York also hosted the Central region final which saw 33 teams from 30 high schools competing.
The final competition, judged on a scale of 500 points , was a tight race with the top 10 teams all finishing within 30 points of each other. The winning team, which received the York Trophy and gift certificates from Future Shop, included students Ori Bernstein, Lisa Du, Hunter Song and Qiyu Zhu.
Open to anyone concerned with computers and learning how to connect technology to school curriculum, ECOO was formed in 1979 and now has more than 2,000 members. It represents all levels of the education system and draws members from all areas of study.