A pair of Allen County-Scottsville High School science students took state championship honors in a Science Olympiad event April 23 at the Science Olympiad State Tournament held at Western Kentucky University. Senior Preston Clarke and freshman Colton Barton teamed to take first place honors in the Game On category.
According to Science Olympiad event descriptions, the Game On competition “will determine a team's ability to design and build an original computer game incorporating the theme provided to them by the supervisor using the program Scratch".
“The premise is that when you walk in on the day of the event, you are given a theme for your game,” Clarke explained. “Our theme at state was Renaissance. You have 50 minutes to create a game. Once the 50 minutes is over, you save your project and it’s then graded. You are in panic mode the whole time. You have to move as fast as you can to get it done.”
An essential element in the process is teamwork with your partner to complete your project.
“You have to talk with your partner and figure out what you know and what your partner knows,” notes Barton. “You just work together.”
Clarke admits that he is somewhat new to aspects of the competition, thus turned to his younger partner for assistance.
“I had never worked with Scratch before this year and Colton had so I kind of leaned on him for the technical side,” Clarke explained. “We both had ideas and tried to implement them.”
Barton’s roots with the Scratch program go back to his days at the James E. Bazzell Middle School.
“We used Scratch a lot at the middle school,” Barton said. “In Computer Program this year, we also have done a whole unit on Scratch.”
The pair is quick to note that the state championship in the event is a reflection of the skills each has obtained through computer programming and computer science classes. Their knowledge will be used going forward---first for Clarke who will be graduating from AC-S on May 27.
“I’m looking at computer engineering,” Clarke said when asked about his career choice. “That takes the software side of engineering and adds hardware to mesh it all together. I’m also looking at electrical engineering.”
Barton plans on taking additional computer science courses as he completes high school in the years to come. His plans after high school involve computers in some form as well.
The students believe the field of computer science will continue to evolve and will constantly be changing.
“Everybody used technology now,” Clarke added. “I think everybody needs to know a little bit about how computers work and what goes into coding. Computer science is a good base for anybody.”
Barton agrees.
“There are a lot of new careers opening up in computer science,” Barton pointed out. “You are always seeing advances in technology.”
Computer science-related courses are expanding at the high school. Veteran high school educator Rick Roberts provides the instruction by teaching students how to code and build computer programs. Roberts’ dedication to the field also included a recent weekend trip with 12 students to the Gaming Institute Conference at Eastern Kentucky University.
“We have Computer Programming I and II as well as a new AP Computer Programming course this year,” noted Science teacher and Science Olympiad coach Jeremy Byrn. “Next year we are adding a fourth course. Colton and Preston first learned the computer language for the event in those courses. “
Clarke and Barton add to a lengthy list of high-achieving Science Olympiad students. Their success brings to 34 the number of Science Olympiad Individual State Champions from AC-S since 2006.