Get involved and compete
One of the ways that people learn best is when they are having fun and there is an element of friendly competition. Healthy competition can be a motivating factor that helps us to learn and grow at a faster pace than we would on our own. Below are some club and competition resources that you can take advantage of. If you know of great clubs and competitions, would you consider sharing them with us?
Clubs / Activities
Free after-school programs for 3rd-5th and 6th-12th grade girls to join our sisterhood of supportive peers and role models using computer science to change the world.
The mission of FIRST® is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders and innovators, by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering, and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership.
SeaPerch is an innovative underwater robotics program that equips students, educators, and parents with the resources they need to build an underwater remotely operated vehicle (ROV) in an in- or out-of-school setting.
According to CyberStart, "CyberStart America is the most enjoyable way to discover your talent, advance your skills and win scholarships in cybersecurity! Get access to CyberStart, a free immersive cybersecurity training game for high school students, with over 200 fun-to-play challenges.
Competitions
Click on the heading and other links to learn more about each of these programs.
Registration Deadline: September 30, 2021
The Global Chess Challenge will take place via the internet. It features Kai’s Clan’s virtual platform and their create mat. Kai’s Clan uses an innovative approach to playing Chess over the internet and blends both physical and virtual worlds together. A totally immersive and collaborative Coding Experience, where students compete in teams against each other.
Registration Deadline: October 5, 2021
CyberPatriot’s National Youth Cyber Defense Competition challenges teams of high school and middle school students to find and fix cybersecurity vulnerabilities in virtual operating systems. Using a proprietary competition system, teams are scored on how secure they make the system. Top teams advance through the online round of competition, and the best of the best advance to the in-person National Finals Competition.
Submission Deadline: November 1, 2021
This is an app creation competition for middle school and high school students in districts where their Representative in the US House Representatives has chosen to participate. So far 301 Representatives have chosen to participate (out of the 435 Representatives in Congress).
The 2021 Congressional App Challenge has launched! Please see the list below for Members participating in 2021. If your Member is not on the list, You can use this template to request that your Member of Congress host an App Challenge in 2021.
<Register>
American Computer Science League
First Competition: November 2021
ACSL organizes computer science contests and computer programming contests for elementary, junior, and senior high school students. The 2021-2022 school year will be our 44th year of continuous operation. Each year, over 500 teams in the United States, Canada, Europe, Africa and Asia are participating in various divisions ACSL is on the approved activities list of the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) and is an institutional member of CSTA.
Their year-long contest is in 4 rounds. Contest #1 is available November 1, 2021; the last day to give and score round Contest #1 is Friday, January 16, 2022. The other three rounds are available at about monthly intervals. This is worth checking into even if to just have access to their wealth of short answer and programming problems over the years. <http://www.acsl.org>
Bebras Computational Thinking Competition
Competition: November 2021
Bebras US Computational Thinking Challenge. Bebras is an international computational thinking challenge that started in Lithuania more than 10 years ago. Last year about 1,000,000 students participated globally.
Bebras promotes computational thinking for teachers and students (ages 8-18 / school years 3-12). The challenges are made up of a set of short questions called Bebras tasks and are delivered via the cloud. The tasks can be answered without prior knowledge about computational thinking or computer science but are clearly related to computational thinking concepts. To solve the tasks, students are required to think in and about information, discrete structures, computation, data processing, and algorithmic concepts. Each Bebras task can both demonstrate an aspect of computational thinking and test the talent of the participant.
Amazon Cyber Robotics Back-to-School Challenge
Can you code an Amazon Hercules robot to deliver your friend’s birthday present on time? Join this free, 3-hour virtual challenge to learn programming basics and have the chance to win $250 in classroom supplies! Recommended for grades 4 and above.
Regional Competition - Saturday, January 15, 2022
Future City is a project-based learning program where students in 6th, 7th, and 8th grades imagine, research, design, and build cities of the future. This year’s challenge, Living on the Moon, asked teams to design a waste-free city that uses the principles of a circular economy.
Registration Deadline: February 16th, 2022
Carnegie Mellon University is hosting picoCTF 2021, one of the largest cybersecurity hacking competition for middle and high school students. Participants 13 years and older of all skill levels are encouraged to compete. Competitors must reverse-engineer, break, hack, decrypt, and think creatively and critically to solve the challenges and capture the digital flags.
The competition period runs from March 16 – 30 with winners announced mid-April. <Register>
Submission Deadline: February 18th, 2022
Code/Art’s CodeYourSelf Competition combines creativity, art, and coding to inspire female-identifying students in grades 3-12 to explore computer science by using coding skills to create digital art pieces. There is no experience necessary: for some girls, their entry is their first coding project. For others, this competition is something they come back to year after year as they develop greater technical skill. This year's prizes include: cash, project printed on coffee table book, T-shirt, and certificate. This competition is hosted by Code/Art- a non-profit that uses art to get girls interested in computer science. <Get Flyer> <Submit Your Project>
Engineering Machine Design Contest
Competition Date: March 18, 2022
A partnership between STEM Forward and the University of Minnesota, the Engineering Machine Design Contest is an opportunity for teams of 3-10 high school students to design and build a complex machine using everyday objects with the guidance of a coach. The completed machine will use multiple steps to complete a simple task. Teams showcase and exhibit their machine at a regional contest with the opportunity to advance to the Engineering Machine Design Championship. Teams are scored on a Team Journal, Team Presentation, and Machine Design and Operation.
Each year a competition theme is chosen to guide the machine build and allow for whimsical creativity to flourish. Students are able to explore science, technology, engineering, and mathematic (STEM) principles while having fun in a collaborative environment.
Wisconsin-Dairyland Programming Competition
Spring 2022
The Wisconsin-Dairyland chapter of the CSTA, in conjunction with the Marquette University chapters of ACM and UPE, welcomes high school (and sometimes middle school) students with Java, Python or Scratch programming experience to participate in a morning of computer science problem solving and/or storytelling
Contrapt WI by STEM Forward (Formerly Rube Goldberg)
Spring 2022
Each year, a new challenge is determined and middle school students scrounge for everyday items to put together their machines to tell a story, make you laugh, and complete the task! Next year's thme will be Cut a Ribbon (or String)
Usually in June
Learn how to code, develop, and program your own video game! Camp participants will learn the basics of computer and game programming using GDevelop. No previous experience or background in IT or programming is necessary. June 7-11 (grades 9-12) | June 14-18 (grades 5-8)
Summer 2022
Now in its fourth year, HACKAppleton is an annual student-run hackathon held in the spring in Northeastern Wisconsin. It is organized by the Appleton Youth Education Initiative (AYEI), a student-driven non profit organization seeking to better prepare Wisconsin students for their transition into higher education and to face the challenges and opportunities of adult life. Through HACKAppleton, students interested in computer science will have a fantastic opportunity to gain experience working in a team, technical practice, and a chance to engage with both local and international tech leaders.