Capital University hosts high school students in two STEM-related special events

Two STEM events for high school students around Ohio occurred in November at Capital University, giving the University’s Department of Mathematics, Computer Science, and Physics an opportunity to provide a welcoming environment for young scholars.

The first event, the Ohio High School Mathematics Invitational Olympiad, in an annual event that this year took place on November 4. About 100 high schoolers came to Capital’s campus to participate in the competition. 

According to an article on Capital University’s website, Paula Federico, Ph.D., who is a professor of Mathematics, Computer science and Physics, explained what the event is and what it involves for the young mathematicians: “The goal for this competition is to reward mathematical excellence and encourage teamwork among high school students. The students participate individually and in teams. There’s another competition first, and the one at Capital is the second level. The top scoring students and a team that the school puts together then get to participate at the Math Olympiad,” said Frederico.

Frederico noted that the competition is a great opportunity for high school students to explore their interests and brush up on their skills.

The following Saturday, the second high school event took place on campus: the 2023 TECH CORPS Hackathon. Similarly a STEM-related event, the Hackathon is a coding competition that involves the student participants learning coding skills and creating an app to put their new skills to the test. The apps the students must create must help solve a real-life issue.

Capital University students had the opportunity to volunteer their time at the Hackathon. One volunteer, Ally Davis, had worked for TECH CORPS over the summer and found it easy to want to volunteer for the Hackathon. “Over the summer, I worked for TECH CORPS as an instructor for the IT On Ramp+ program, which specialized in helping high school students learn computer science and math concepts over the span of four weeks. I loved working with the students and seeing how each of them found different ways to solve problems. I enjoyed watching difficult concepts click for some students that struggled initially as they began to understand. I also loved seeing students use their creativity to produce fantastic projects,” she said.

She went on to describe what the students did at the Hackathon, saying, “This year was my first year at the TechCorps Hackathon and TechCorps’s first year using SwiftUI to code the apps, so I went in not really knowing what to expect. However, I was pleasantly surprised with how innovative and creative the students were. They were all quick learners and had amazing ideas that they eventually figured out how to implement. It was so fun getting to see some of them in their element and collaborating with their mentors to figure out what the best way to solve their issues were.”

For more information about Capital University, visit the school’s website.