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Eleven teams from schools in three Australian states and territories have gathered in Lockheed Martin Australia’s LMA House in Canberra to compete in the second Australian Code Quest competition.
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The competition aims to encourage high school students to pursue careers in STEM and prepare the "next generation of coders", with students working together in teams of two to three, solving problems by using Java, Python, VB.net, C, and/or C++ programming to complete the "quest".
The team of Joseph Tay, Saurabh Jhanjee and Ryan Kam from Haileybury College in Melbourne walked away with first prize after prevailing out of the 26 students and five coaches from schools in Canberra, Melbourne and Newcastle.
“It’s a terrific thrill for us in Lockheed Martin Australia to bring the Code Quest competition to Australia for the second time and for so many high school students from around the country, including regional areas, to pursue this science, technology, engineering and maths-based competition,” said Lockheed Martin Australia managing director of space Rod Drury.
“The possibilities of an exciting competition, as well as the window it opens to studies and careers is as inspirational for the students who have made the journey as it is for we volunteers who are delighted to make it possible. Advancing STEM and encouraging as many students to tackle it as possible is critical for Australia’s future.”
Chris Bucknell, Haileybury College coach and head of computing and digital technology, said his team was thrilled to win the competition again this year following their success in the inaugural event.
“We are an academic school, but we also look at the whole person and coming out here today, these students can work on their teamwork, connect with industry … and learn about being an entrepreneur. Competitions like Code Quest enhance and create further opportunities for our students," he said.
Bucknell said ICT and modern digital technology skills were becoming increasingly important in the 21st century and becoming as fundamental as reading and writing.
“These are skills students need to have. We want to thank Lockheed Martin Australia for hosting the event. It’s great the LMA is supporting education, school and kids – it’s a win, win, win," he said.
Code Quest globally is in its eighth year with 684 teams competing at 25 sites.
