International Schools Software Competition

15 November 2004

Three southern secondary school students will represent New Zealand at an International Schools Software Competition on the 18 – 20 November in Chennai, India.

Joshua Pask, 16 from James Hargest High School, Invercargill; Keiran Cheung, 15 from Southland Boys High School, Invercargill; and Anton Jackson-Smith, 14 from Wakatipu High School in Queenstown have won the right to represent New Zealand at this competition.

54 students from 11 countries will take part in the competition, which is run by the South East Asia Regional Computer Federation (SEARCC).

The competition is open to teams of three students, who must be no more than 17 years of age, from SEARCC member countries, and who are proposed by the national Computer Society of their home country. Nominated by the New Zealand Computer Society Inc. (NZCS), the team were accepted as competitors at a SEARCC meeting in Subang Jaya, Malaysia, in October.

Dave Stringer, chief executive of the NZCS says, “They have worked hard and in their own time, to earn the opportunity to represent New Zealand. These boys acquitted themselves well in the New Zealand Programming contest in August, which is almost exclusively entered by tertiary students, and, also in August, were awarded Distinction in the Australian Computer Programming Competition for High School students.”

The team will be accompanied by Ken Sutton from the Southern Institute of Technology, who has acted as team coach and mentor.

The team’s participation in the competition is being made possible through sponsorship from the Asia New Zealand Foundation, the Royal Society of New Zealand, the Invercargill Licensing Trust, the Ministry of Research Science & Technology, Sun Microsystems, RHE Associates, and the New Zealand Computer Society Inc.

In addition to promoting international excellence in information technology SEARCC, as competition organisers, aim to provide opportunities for the young people of the region to acquire a better awareness of the culture, lifestyle and aspirations of each other’s country, thereby contributing to better understanding in relationships for future generations.

“New Zealand’s participation in this competition is evidence of the excellent standard being achieved in the application of information technology by New Zealand High School students. These young people have shown skills that are ‘world-class’ with their achievements to date. By taking part in the competition, they reflect credit upon their schools, our education system and New Zealand,” Mr Stringer said.

ENDS

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