Students compete, show off tech savvy
Local schools are not only using technology to challenge students but also using it as a launching pad for those interested in careers involving technology and math.
Darlington and Rome City Schools have both recently participated in Tech Fairs where students showcase projects they have been working on to judges in hopes of advancing to regional and state competitions.
Darlington’s Tech Fair was held on Tuesday for third-12th grades in Thatcher Hall. Students presented their projects to panels of judges throughout the building covering a variety of categories.
Shriya Garg showed her lines of code for a program she designed in Eclipse to judges from the community.
She explained she had been working on her program over summer break with some help from friends she met at a summer camp. Her program included decision making that affects the player’s outcome and is based on her trip to India over the summer. Garg shared that before her trip she did not realize how valuable education is, and made the main character in her program a young student who must work to save up for school. She is currently having issues with getting the program to run, but says she will have it ready for the regional competition.
Garg was the only person in her category according to Beth Wardlaw, technology and integration coordinator, who said everyone is too afraid to run against Garg.
Most of the students complete their projects in their class or in free makerspace hours after school, Wardlaw said. They compete against each other in class and the teachers narrow it down to the three best to move on to the Darlington Technology Fair.
“There is project programming, robotics, audio production, video production, digital photography, digital game design, app design, 3D modeling and graphic design,” Wardlaw said. “We have someone competing in every category and in every grade level.”
Rome City Schools’ students had a chance to show off their work and be judged by educators in the RCS system during Rome City Schools’ Tech Fair hosted by Rome Middle School this past Saturday.
Some even earned a chance to compete at the regional level.
Math and Science Coordinator Patricia Waters said that she was pleased with the amount of students who got involved.
“This is the second year we have hosted a tech fair,” said Waters. “Because in the past students were able to just move on to the regional fair to compete.”
Students demonstrated a wide array of projects including 3D modeling, animation, digital game design, graphic design and robotics. Students were evaluated using a rubric.
Judges graded students for creativity, if they cited information that was not their original ideas, program proficiency, the overall purpose of their project and their preparedness when presenting their ideas.