The HMHS Computer Science club, run by Mrs. Lau, attended the 34th Annual Rowan University Programming Contest hosted by the university’s Computer Science Department. 

Haddonfield sent 14 of its best coders to take a shot at cracking the complex two-and-a-half hour-long problem. Competitors partnered in teams of two. The teams are as follows: Matthew Li and Case Hurly, who coded in the programming language Python, Sinjin Spellmeyer and Linus Kucer (Java), Chase DiGiulio and Brant Nicholls (Python), JD Scarpa and Allison Goode (Java), Lilliana Kuball and Anna Savranska (Python), Nathan Fields and Moira Geiger (Java), and Alex Nuckols and Jack Novak (Java). 

Eight other schools, including Delsea, Eastern, Cherry Hill East, and Freehold, attended the competition.

Students were tasked with writing an algorithm that would digitally recreate a game of SET. The objective of the game is to find pairs of three cards in a grid that either differ completely or have three matching characteristics, whether they be the shape, number of shapes, shading, or color. The players would have to output the matches of the cards and modify the deal based on the number of matches. 

The problem was so difficult that no team of two solved it all. However, Nate Fields and Moira Geiger came close, placing fourth!

After the mentally-strenuous competition, the CS Club enjoyed lunch in the Rowan Dining Hall. After lunch, the students participated in a college Q&A and a raffle. Lilliana Kuball, Anna Savranska, and Case Hurly were raffle winners, winning $20, a Rowan CS t-shirt, and planetarium tickets, respectively.

This event marks a milestone in the development of the HMHS Computer Science Club. It is the first of many competitions in the future. Recently, JD Scarpa and Jeffrey Tan participated in the Colorado School of Mines Programming Competition. 

Mrs. Lau is very optimistic about the future of HMHS’s Computer Science Club: “I’m so proud of all my students for trying something new, and it was a great learning experience for next year.”