Youth Coders from across Southeast Missouri honored
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. — Christmas came early to hundreds of Youth Coding League players at the Central Junior High School as middle school and junior high students from across Southeast Missouri gathered for an All-Star Party celebrating a semester’s worth of hard work.
Prize winners for Regular Season top scorers, Most Improved, Technical Merit and Community Favorite categories took home cash, Chromebooks, tech prizes, and more.
The Youth Coding League is a weekly after-school program that introduces computer programming to middle schoolers and junior high students. It is offered by the Marquette Tech District Foundation and adds a competitive, sports-like element to Google’s CS First curriculum. Students compete in a regular and postseason, earning points and milestones and sharing their progress at YouthCodingLeague.com. Postseason competition included a playoff and a championship round, with a first-ever tiebreaker round in the playoffs.
“This is the third semester of the Youth Coding League, and we’ve grown to 36 schools,” Director of Public Relations Stacy Dohogne Lane shared. “Participating schools range as far south as Richland R-1 in Essex as far north as Oak Ridge and everywhere in between. We are in public and private schools and even include a homeschooling team on our roster. We are committed to bringing critically important computer science skills to kids, especially kids who might not otherwise have access to the skill set. Logic, problem-solving and the ability to think systematically will prepare them for the jobs they’ll have someday, many of which don’t exist yet.”
Youth Coding League players were awarded for regular season finishes in the top 10, for being the Most Improved player on their team, for Technical Merit and for Community Favorite. Teachers who coach the Youth Coding League at their schools nominated one student who demonstrated work ethic and commitment to coding from their team as their Most Improved student. Technical Merit awards were selected anonymously by a team of industry developers who looked for skill demonstrated in the code of the group projects Youth Coding League players put together at the conclusion of the regular season. Schools rallied behind their teams and voted on one project for each school in the playoff round that advanced to the Championship round, where one project from each school competed against the entire league.
Fifth and Sixth Grade Winners
Community Favorites
These group projects battled it out for the most votes against each school competing in the Youth Coding League! The Community Favorite category is a chance for school communities to lift up and show Youth Coding League teams that you recognize, value and spotlight their hard work.
1st: $500 Cash + 48” Trophy: Rags to Riches, Jackson Middle School - Caleb and Wyatt
2nd: Chromebook: Story of my Coding Life, Trinity Lutheran - Ava and Tali
3rd: Beats by Dre: The Life Changing Club, Sikeston’s 5th and 6th Grade Center - Payton, CJ and Jon Luke
4th: Amazon Echo: The Three Muskateers, Meadow Heights - Thomas, Robert, Hunter
5th: Tinker Crates: Life with Coding, Chaffee Elementary School - Hayden, Zeke and Carson
Technical Merit
After working through a very structured curriculum that spanned 8 sprints, the Youth Coding League players took a simple prompt and created group projects. A team of industry professionals reviewed these projects, and evaluated them based on core computer science principles.
1st: $500 Cash + 48” Trophy: Coding Through the Ages, St. Henry - Will, Gabe and Tylen
2nd: Chromebook: Life with Coding, Chaffee Elementary School - Hayden, Zeke and Carson
3rd: Beats by Dre: Coding Submission, Jackson Middle School - Dolan and Kobe
4th: Amazon Echo: The Appalachian Trail, Nell Holcomb - Kenyan, Dawson and Tim
5th: Tinker Crates: Block Builders, St. Vincent de Paul - Alyssa, Grayson, and Sonnie
Most Improved
These students have been recognized by their teachers for their work ethic, resilience in the face of brand-new skills in computer science, and their commitment to their team and the Youth Coding League.
32nd Judicial: Josh Samons
Central Middle School: Akitha Dias
Chaffee: Betty Davidson
Delta: Rylie Varner
Eagle Ridge: Benjamin Friedrich
Jackson Middle: Camden Vines
Kelly: Peyton Slaughter
Kelso C-7: Mackinzie Weathers
Meadow Heights: Madison Bess
Nell Holcomb: Ayden Crossen
Oran: Dean Morgan
Oak Ridge: Klaudya Schaefer
Richland R-1: Payton Bell
Scott City: Taylor McMillan
Scott County Central: Bailey Harper
SEMO Homeschool Warriors: Jonathan Palmer
Sikeston 5th and 6th Grade Center: Mylii Cossey
St Paul Lutheran: Noah Meyr
St Henry: Gabe Fitzgerald
St Vincent de Paul: Grayson Maurer
Seventh and Eighth Grade Winners
Community Favorites
These group projects battled it out for the most votes against each school competing in the Youth Coding League! The Community Favorite category is a chance for school communities to lift up and show Youth Coding League teams that you recognize, value and spotlight their hard work.
1st: $750 + 48” Trophy: Gladiator, Jackson Junior High - Trenton, Owen and Grant
2nd: Chromebook: Back in Time, St. Paul - Emily, Amelia, Faith
3rd: Beats by Dre: Group Ross, Trinity - Hayden, Corran and Don
Technical Merit
After working through a very structured curriculum that spanned 8 sprints, the Youth Coding League players took a simple prompt and created group projects. A team of industry professionals reviewed these projects, and evaluated them based on core computer science principles.
1st: $750 + 48” Trophy: The Creative Collection, Jackson Junior High - Anna and Heidi
2nd: Chromebook: The G.O.A.T.S., Scott County Central - Stevey, Skyler and Asher
3rd: Beats by Dre: Gladiator, Jackson Junior High - Trenton, Owen and Grant
Most Improved
These students have been recognized by their teachers for their work ethic, resilience in the face of brand-new skills in computer science, and their commitment to their team and the Youth Coding League.
Central Junior High: Jessie Feng
Eagle Ridge: JJ Akens
Jackson Junior High: Jonathan Rosequist
Nell Holcomb: Ian Weber
Oak Ridge: Bailey Miller
Scott City: Alyssa Stone
Scott County Central: Asher Britt
Sikeston Junior High: Gavin McLemore
St. Vincent de Paul: Alexander
Fall 2019 winners can be viewed at youthcodingleague.com/pages/history.