Computer Information Students Gain National Honors

April 25, 2003

Competing at the national level, Oklahoma Baptist University computer information science majors gained two of the top three team positions at a recent student conference. 

Seven OBU students participated in the Association of Information Technology Professions Student Conference this spring in West Lafayette, Ind. OBU teams placed second and third in C++ programming.

Matt Green, a senior from Seminole, and Collin Phillips, a junior from Addison, Ill., claimed second place honors. Ryan King, a senior from Independence, Mo., and Nathan Sweaney, a senior from Sedan, Kan., finished third.

Amanda Thompson, a senior from Fredricksburg, Texas, earned one of three honorable mention designations in the conference's paper presentation competition.

"This was an 'all comers' conference for schools of all types and sizes," said Dale Hanchey, OBU McCasland associate professor of computer science, who sponsored the group. "Overall, it was another strong performance by our students."

AITP is the world's second largest computing organization, with student chapters at colleges and universities across the nation. A total of 84 institutions were represented at the conference, with 561 students and faculty attending.

In addition to competing in the conference, Green, King and Sweaney were among 176 students to take the Institute for Certified Computing Professionals core certification exam. The three OBU students were among less than 10 who scored at the CCP (certified computer professional) level on the exam. Sweaney had the highest score among the 176 students, scoring at the 98th percentile level for all who have taken the national organization's main certification test.