EXPERIENCE HOSTING A HIGH-SCHOOL LEVEL PROGRAMMING CONTES T George Strubl e Computer Science Departmen t Willamette Universit y Salem, OR 9730 1 1. Introductio n Willamette University's Computer Science Departmen t has been hosting a computer programming contest fo r teams from Oregon high schools for four years . Hostin g a contest has benefits for the college, the high schools , and the discipline . We want to share our experience a s an encouragement to other colleges to host simila r contests in their own regions . The contest has benefits in student recruitment ; ou r college, whose quality generally seems to be a too-wellkept secret, has become more visible among a population of students we are eager to attract . I t encourages high quality high school computer scienc e programs and provides a little well-earned recognition t o them . It provides an incentive to some other high schoo l programs to do better ; even the realization that a generally excellent school is not doing as well i n computer science as its lower-prestige cross-town riva l can be useful . By requiring Pascal for the contest, w e encourage schools not
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