18th Invitational Programing Conference

MARQUETTE– Tomorrow a local university is hosting a group of young students hoping to show us their skills at competition tomorrow.

Saturday is the 18th annual Invitational Programming Conference hosted at Northern Michigan University.

Teams of high school and college students are invited from all over the Upper Peninsula and beyond.

Students are given 6 computer programs to write and earn a point for each correct program.

Organizers say it helps to build interest in a very valuable skill.

“Computers are involved in nearly every aspect of economy, commerce, business, medicine, science,” said Dr. Andy Poe, Professor of Math and Computer Science at NMU. “Almost everything you do has a computer component to it.”

If all 39 teams are able to make it to the conference, it will be a record number of teams for them.