Western Pa. students invited to Pine-Richland programming competition

Whether students are an expert programmer or amateur coder, there’s a place for them at Pine-Richland’s 2023 “Hack the Ram” programming competition.

On Jan. 28, the district will welcome high school and middle school students from across the region to the free competition.

“There’s a place for everybody,” Pine-Richland junior Noah Orellana said. “Anybody can come in and at least learn.”

The daylong event centers around an “invention marathon,” in which students will be given a theme at the event and must create a program or application that revolves around the theme during the hack-a-thon. Students can participate in teams of up to four people.

Last year’s health and wellness theme saw programs ranging from covid questionnaires to a benign-tumor identifier, Orellana said.

At the end of the event, students will have a program or application to take home with them – and the winners of the invention marathon will each be awarded a 3D printer.

When students aren’t focusing on the invention marathon, they can participate in a raffle, chess tournament, video game tournament and numerous seminars.

Orellana, who is in charge of running Hack the Ram this year, organized the seminars last year. The seminars help teach beginners how to code and share new information with the advanced and comfortable programmers.

“It gives people the chance to dip their toes in a few different places,” Orellana said.

Pine-Richland began hosting Hack the Ram in 2019, according to high school computer science teacher and programming club sponsor Valerie Klosky. Klosky believes the event gives students exposure to computational thinking and helps them solve problems of a bigger purpose.

The event’s invitation to students from any school is also important, she added.

“It shows our leadership and motivation to really value computer science,” she said. “In doing so, it broadens the exposure for other students in the area.”

Coding helps students think logically and digitally, no matter their career, Klosky said.

Orellana agreed. He was introduced to coding in high school. Now, he plans to pursue a career in software engineering, hardware engineering or computer science.

“(Coding) really makes you think in a different way,” he said. “Coding classes have made me better at other classes.”

Students in sixth grade to 12th grade can sign up for Hack the Ram on hacktheram.com. The event is completely free thanks to its sponsors, which include PNC, PPG, NetApp, Aspirational Health, Schell Games and GKG Orthodontics.

During the event, which runs from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the high school, students will be provided with lunch, dinner, snacks, t-shirts and prizes.

Students are encouraged to bring their own technology, but Pine-Richland will have several Chromebooks on site.