Youth Coders from across Southeast Missouri honored

Friday, January 17, 2020
Sikeston Youth Coding League
Submitted photo

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.

Scott County Central Youth Coding League
Submitted photo

“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.