LITTLE ROCK – Governor Asa Hutchinson on Saturday attended Arkansas’s sixth annual Governor’s All-State Coding Competition. Gov. Hutchinson, in partnership with ARCodeKids, announced the winners of the competition in the Ida Waldron Auditorium of the University of Central Arkansas in Conway.
ARCodeKids, a 501c3 non-profit established to support the Arkansas Computer Science and Computing Initiative, will provide funds of up to $50,000 to support the competition. This funding was made possible by a grant from Microsoft Philanthropies, which has committed to providing another $50,000 for next year’s competition.
Over one hundred and fifty teams from across the state participated in the digital regional competition. The top sixteen teams from that regional event along with a team from last year’s first-place team received invitations to compete in the 2022 Governor’s All-State Coding Competition.
The funding will be used to award an Arkansas Brighter Future 529 Plan college savings scholarship to each member of the top three teams. Arkansas School for the Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts, team members David Clark, Joshua Stallings, and Robert Boerwinkle placed first and each will receive a $2,000 scholarship; this team was sponsored by Nicholas Seward. Don Tyson School of Innovation in Springdale team members Lucas Kellar, Dylan Crawford, and Eli Wetzel placed second and each will receive a $1000 scholarship; this team was sponsored by Jessica Mabie. The third-placed team of Star City High School team members Reid Dutton, Tony Chen, and James West each will receive scholarships of $500; this team was sponsored by Amy Dreher. The schools that sponsored the first-place, second-place, and third-place teams received $10,000, $6,000, and $4,000, respectively, to support their computer science programs.
Gov. Hutchinson also recognized the five state finalists of the 2022 Arkansas Computer Science Educator of the Year award. Each of the following finalists will receive a $2,500 award from the ADE Office of Computer Science:
Brenda Qualls, teacher at Bryant High School
Carl Frank, teacher at Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts in Hot Spring
Kimberly Raup, teacher at Conway High School
Nicholas Seward, teacher at Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts in Hot Springs
Phillip Blake, teacher at eStem Public Charter Schools in Little Rock
“Congratulations to the winners and all the students who participated in showing off their coding skills. I am grateful for the enthusiasm of students and educators who have put Arkansas at the forefront of computer science education in the United States.” Governor Hutchinson said, “As more of our students elect to take coding and computer science classes every semester, this competition will continue to inspire creativity and ingenuity in young coders.”