CHC Programming Students Perform Well in Regional International Collegiate Programming Contest - Crafton Hills College

Publish Date: Nov. 7, 2023

ICPC Students

On Oct. 28, Professor of Computer Science Sandra Ruiz accompanied nine of her computer programming students to the Regional International Collegiate Programming Contest for colleges and universities in the region. 

The students performed admirably in a field of 84 teams from both two-year colleges and universities. Crafton Hills College was one of only three community colleges whose student participants successfully completed three programming problems in the allotted time. The highest ranking for a community college was 35; the CHC team ranked 38. Our fourth place finishing team “Kazoo” was only 12 minutes away from grabbing third place. 

This was the first time CHC has participated in this event, which makes their high scores even more impressive. Coach and Professor of Computer Science Sandra Ruiz exclaimed, “Now everyone in the ICPC regionals knows who Crafton Hills College is!” 

The nine CHC participants were divided into three teams, each with three student participants:

Team Hexadevils

  1. Arthur Buenaventura
  2. Lloyd Zamora
  3. Nicholas Easter


Team Kazoo

  1. Dylan Cusson
  2. Stephen Kouch
  3. Maxwell Smith


Team Roadrunners

  1. Kyra Ruvalcaba 
  2. Noah Pradzinski
  3. Jayden Dillon


It was a long day for CHC participants and their coach, with 12 hours of activities. They arrived at 8:30 am for registration. After registration, they had a hosted breakfast and attended an orientation followed by a rehearsal session. At 12:15 pm they had lunch and then attended a Q&A session. 

The competition itself began at 2:00 pm and ended at 7:00 pm. After the competition ended, Roadrunners dined on pizza.

CHC student participants were divided into three-person teams:

Asked what value this experience had for student participants, Prof. Ruiz said, 

  • “it's challenging for students
  • it promotes teamwork and problem-solving skills
  • Crafton Hills College students get to meet students from other schools (potential future colleagues and competitors)
  • Students get to see and work in other computing environments
  • It will look good on student's resume
  • it will be a great topic of discussion during a job interview
  • it's a lot of fun!”