Elizabethtown College’s Computer Science (CS) Club recently hosted the largest Fall Coding Challenge event in its history on Oct. 25, providing students with opportunities to hone their problem-solving and innovative thinking skills.
Three winners received cash prizes in varying amounts. Computer Science major Brian Duva ’27 earned the first-place prize for his project “Trackdle,” which mimicked the game “Wordle” using a custom playlist of songs. Computer Science major Nate Marshall ’28 earned the second-place prize for his project, which allows users to easily navigate and track changes to online coding documents. Computer Science major Bella La Face ’27 earned the third-place prize for her project that simulated the basic process of a crypto ransomware attack.
This year’s event took place in Gibble Auditorium and featured more beginner-friendly challenges, setting it apart from years past. The approach proved successful, as participation numbers nearly tripled from previous years.
“Our club was thrilled by this year’s incredible participation in the coding challenge,” Computer Science major and President of Etown’s Computer Science Club Matt Smith ’26 said. “The event has evolved to be more beginner-friendly and helps students build their professional image and portfolio.”
The competition consisted of a month-long coding challenge, where students were tasked with creating a basic prototype of their project that addressed a specific problem. Members of Etown’s Computer Science Club conducted bi-weekly check-ins to gauge progress and provide assistance to groups.
The competition culminated in a judging session, during which alumni provided industry-relevant feedback and scores to competitors based on creativity, functionality, technical difficulty, presentation, code quality, and documentation. Alumni judges included Ethan Lajeunesse ’24, Muz Islam ’25, Sam Huhn ’25, Melissa Patton ’25, and Matthew Grohotolski ’22.
The judging session also served as a valuable opportunity for current Blue Jays to network and build relationships with Etown alumni.
Refreshments for the event were funded by Nearly Human AI, an intelligence software agency. Nearly Human AI is also sponsoring multiple senior capstone projects for Etown Computer Science students.
