MILWAUKEE – More than 400 high school and middle school students were in Milwaukee on Wednesday for the 2022 Wisconsin Dairyland programming competition.
Dr. Dennis Brylow is a professor and Vice Chair for the Department of Computer Science at Marquette University. He says the competition used to be much smaller.
“When this started ten years ago, we had about 30 students participate. Over the years we’ve steadily grown to the point where we now we have more than 400 registered for this year,” Dr. Brylow said.
He thinks the event will keep getting bigger as the demand for computer science in the workforce increases.
“We’ve seen a phenomenal growth in the number of high schools offering computer science and interested in providing this kind of experience for their students,” Dr. Brylow said.
“I think the growth matches a growing recognition that this is a really important field of study for students to be thinking about. Even if they aren’t going to go into a career in building software, they’re probably going to be interacting with computer systems in whatever they do. And so I think it reflects that acknowledgement of what working in the 21st century is going to look like.”
You can listen to interviews with Dr. Brylow and Marquette University senior Jack Forden in the players at the top of the page.
You can also check out pictures from the event below.
More than 400 high school and even middle school students competing in the 2022 Wisconsin Dairyland Programming Competition @MarquetteU today. Dr. Brylow says growing size of the event reflects growing need for people who understand computer science in today’s workforce. @620wtmj pic.twitter.com/dHbkLCpWO0
— Alex Crowe (@AlexCrowe38) April 20, 2022
