Senior Computer Team is an 8th period club at TJ that holds lectures and practice contests throughout the year. The lectures are primarily geared towards preparing for USACO contests. Specifically, beginner lectures are targeted for the Silver division, and advanced lectures are targeted at the Gold and Platinum divisions. Make sure you sign up for the mailing list or join the Facebook group to stay up-to-date!
Although SCT does select teams to travel contests every year, the main focus is USACO, which is an individual contest. Because of the format of the club, the concept of "membership" in SCT isn't really a thing. Don't be afraid to stop by, even if you've never come before! And no, you don't have to be a senior: the only restriction on grade level is that freshmen may not travel with SCT.
You should also consider attending SCT's sister clubs: the Intermediate Computer Team (ICT) and the Freshman Computer Team (FCT), also known as the Frosh 'Puter Team. The focus of those clubs is slightly different, concentrating more on ACSL, though they also travel to some of the same competitions.
Officers
Current (2023-24)
- Captain: Vishal Nandakumar
- Co-captain: Johnny Liu, Daniel Qiu
- Teaching Coordinator: Munir Kudrati-Plummer
- Sponsor: Dr. Yilmaz
Senior Computer Team has a long history at TJHSST. Below is a list of its officers and sponsors reaching back through the 1996-97 school year, compiled by spelunking through the Wayback Machine.
Past officers
2021-22
- Captain:Kevin Shan
- Co-captain:Taein Kim
- Co-captain:Arnav Jain
- Statistician:Kaitlyn Lu
- Statistician:Karthik Bhargav
- Sponsor: Dr. Yilmaz
2021-22
- Captain: Andrew Wang
- Co-captain: Pranav Mathur
- Co-captain: Johshua Zhang
- Statistician: Aarav Bajaj
- Sponsor: Dr. Yilmaz
2020-21
- Captain: Justin Choi
- Co-captain: Stephen Huan
- Co-captain: Spandan Das
- Statistician: Sarah Zhang
- Sponsor: Mr. Eckel
2019-20
- Captain: Richard Zhan
- Co-captain: Neeyanth Kopparapu
- Co-captain: Patrick Zhang
- Statistician: Havish Malladi
- Sponsor: Mr. Eckel
2018-19
- Captain: Daniel Wisdom
- Co-captain: Jongwan Kim
- Co-captain: George Tang
- Statistician: Charlie Gunn
- Sponsor: Ms. Galanos
2017-18
- Captain: Justin Zhang
- Co-captain: Mihir Patel
- Co-captain: Daniel Wisdom
- Statistician: Srinidhi Krishnamurthy
- Sponsor: Ms. Galanos
2016-17
- Captain: Kevin Geng
- Co-captain: Lawrence Wang
- Co-captain: Charles Zhao
- Statistician: Justin Zhang
- Sponsor: Mr. Rudwick
2015-16
- Captain: Nate Foss
- Co-captain: Samuel Hsiang
- Co-captain: Ashley Kim
- Statistician: Jason Lam
- Sponsor: Mr. Rudwick
2014-15
- Captain: Hariank Muthakana
- Co-captain: Matthew Savage
- Co-captain: Corwin de Boor
- Statistician: Ethan Lowman
- Sponsor: Mr. Rudwick
2013-14
- Captain: Sreenath Are
- Co-captain: Yongkoo Kang
- Co-captain: Ryan Jian
- Statistician: Abi Gopal
- Sponsor: Ms. Kim
2012-13
- Captain: Nick Haliday
- Co-captain: Ryan Jian
- Co-captain: Owen Hoffman
- Statistician: Eric Tao
- Sponsor: Ms. Kim
2011-12
- Captain: Alex Chen
- Co-captain: Saketh Are
- Co-captain: Albert Gural
- Statistician: Aziz Yusupov
- Sponsor: Ms. Kim
2010-11
- Captain: Andre Kessler
- Co-captain: Saketh Are
- Co-captain: Andrew Cheong
- Statistician: Arjun Srinivasan
- Sponsor: Ms. Drobnis
2009-10
- Captain: Brian Hamrick
- Co-captain: Jack Chen
- Co-captain: Andre Kessler
- Statistician: Sam Rush
- Sponsor: Mr. Torbert
2008-09
- Captain: Stephen Drodge
- Co-captain: Brian Hamrick
- Co-captain: Andrew Rodriguez
- Statistician: Keeyoung Lee
- Sponsor: Mr. Torbert
2007-08
- Captain: Jacob Steinhardt
- Co-captain: Jeff Chen
- Co-captain: Haitao Mao
- Statistician: Andrew Rodriguez
- Sponsor: Mr. Torbert
2006-07
- Captain: Tom Morgan
- Co-captain: Jonathan Wang
- Co-captain: Jacob Steinhardt
- Statistician: Jeff Chen
- Sponsor: Mr. Torbert
2005-06
- Captain: Justin Solomon
- Co-captain: Nadeem Kolia
- Co-captain: Tom Morgan
- Statistician: Thomas Hsu
- Sponsor: Ms. Little
2004-05
- Captain: Michael Druker
- Co-captain: Anthony Kim
- Co-captain: Menyoung Lee
- Statistician: Nadeem Kolia
- Sponsor: Ms. Little
2003-04
- Captain: Evan Danaher
- Co-captain: Brian Jacokes
- Co-captain: Eric Price
- Statistician: Rocco Repetski
- Sponsor: Ms. Little
2002-03
- Captain: Jeff Arnold
- Co-captain: Tim Abbott
- Co-captain: Brian Jacokes
- Statistician: Samarth Keshava
- Sponsor: Ms. Little
2001-02
- Captain: Steven Sivek
- Co-captain: Kevin Caffrey
- Co-captain: Jeff Arnold
- Statistician: Gary Sivek
- Sponsor: Ms. Little
2000-01
- Captain: Vladimir Novakovski
- Senior co-captain: Ilia Mirkin
- Junior co-captain: Gregory N. Price
- Statistician: Gary Sivek
- Sponsors: Ms. Little and Mr. Latimer
1999-00
- Captain: Dan Willenson
- Senior co-captain: John Danaher
- Junior co-captain: Ilia Mirkin
- Statistician: Michael Connor
- Sponsor: Ms. Bellacqua
1998-99
- Captain: Dan Ceperly
- Senior co-captain: Andrew Hayes
- Junior co-captain: John Danaher
- Statisticians: Mike Craig and Dan Willenson
- Sponsor: Ms. Bellacqua
1997-98
- Captain: Sean MacIsaac
- Senior co-captain: Tom Dixon
- Junior co-captain: Ben Byer
- Statistician: Alok Bhushan
- Sponsor: Ms. Bellacqua
1996-97
- Captain: Nick Allen
- Senior co-captain: Andy Berkheimer
- Junior co-captain: Sean MacIsaac
- Statistician: Peter Shin
- Sponsors: Ms. Bellacqua and Ms. Baker
Competitions
USACO (USA Computing Olympiad)
USACO is a nationwide online contest, around which the SCT curriculum is based. As a result, although USACO is an individual contest, we strongly encourage members to participate!
Monthly contests are administered online in December, January, and February. The final and most difficult contest is the US Open, which is accompanied by an extended time limit. At the end of the year, around 25 students from the USA are choosen to go to USACO Training Camp, of which four are then are selected to compete in the Internationial Olympiad in Informatics (IOI). Getting to USACO Training Camp is a great achievement and is what every SCT member should strive for individually.
For more information about USACO, or to register, visit usaco.org. At that link, you will also find the Training Pages, which are a good resource, albeit a bit dated. You'll also find problems for past contests, which are extremely useful for preparation.
Travel contests
Every spring, the ACM chapters at three local universities host programming contests for high school students. Each of the contests has around 9–12 problems, and uses ACM-style scoring: scores are determined by the number of problems solved, and ties are broken by penalty time. SCT sends a team of four members to all three of these contests every year, determined through a selection process.
- Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) — Both SCT and ICT attend. The contest length is 3 hours, and only Java is allowed.
- University of Maryland (UMD) — Only SCT attends this contest. The contest length is 3 hours, and only Java is allowed.
- University of Virginia (UVA) — FCT, ICT, and SCT all attend. The contest length is 4 hours, and Java, C, or C++ are permitted.
Other local contests
The following contests, however, do not have a team registration limit; you may therefore form teams on your own, and no selection process is necessary. The number of problems and scoring system is similar.
- PClassic — This contest takes place every fall (November) and spring (April) at the University of Pennsylvania. You may form teams of up to four, in either the novice or standard divisions. The contest length is 4 hours, and the programming language is Java or Python. (Most of the time, TJ will not officially send teams; i.e. with a teacher. You can, however, register your own team as "Unaffiliated from VA".)
- Virginia Tech — This contest takes place in early December, and is taken online at TJ by members from all of the computer teams. You may form teams of up to three. The contest length is 4 hours, and the programming language is Java, Python, C, or C++.
Online contests
We also encourage you to participate in other online contests on your own, in particular the following:
- Google Code Jam begins around April.
- Facebook Hacker Cup begins around January.
- Codeforces holds regular competitions.
For a more extensive list, check out USACO's Resources page.
Miscellaneous
Guest lectures and elections
In late spring, after the US Open contest, SCT transitions to guest lectures. These allow any student to sign up to lecture at SCT. The topics are generally focused on the same type of algorithmic content covered throughout the rest of the year, but can be on anything tangentially related to algorithms as long as it's interesting! Guest lectures are required for those running for an elected position.
At the end of the year, members elect three officer positions: one captain and two co-captains, based on the number of votes received, and the restriction that you may not lead another club at the same time as SCT. The final position, the statistician, is appointed by the newly elected captains in whatever manner they wish.
Computer science clubs
For better or for worse, TJ has a lot of clubs related to computer science! Here's a list of clubs that should be accurate, as of the 2020-21 school year. This isn't even counting more tangentially related clubs such as robotics, TSA, or sysadmins.
- Senior Computer Team (Eckel; Friday A)
- Intermediate Computer Team (Kim; Friday B)
- Freshman Computer Team (Rose; Friday A)
- Dev Club (Billington; Wednesday B)
- Mobile Apps Club (Gabor; Wednesday A)
- Coding Lady Colonials (Tra; Friday A)
- Machine Learning Club (Jurj; Wednesday A)
- Computer Security Club (Zacharias; Wednesday A & B)
- Computer Vision Club (Gabor; Wednesday B)