Concordia Nebraska programming team competes at Consortium for Computing in Small Colleges event

by Amy Crawford

Seward, NE (04/15/2025) — On Saturday, April 5, the Concordia University, Nebraska Programming Team traveled to the Consortium for Computing in Small Colleges - Central Plains (CCSC-CP) at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. The team competed in the conference's hackathon and competitive programming contest.

"The hackathon focused on solving a problem for our university. We had four teams compete, each submitting a different idea," explained Concordia Nebraska Instructor of Computer Sciences and Director of Programming Team Ian Kollipara. Kollipara earned degrees in computer science and elementary education from Concordia Nebraska in 2023. "Our team competed in across multiple areas, and I could not be more proud of their performance and accomplishments."

Concordia Blue (Reagan Zierke, Lawson Fairchild and Aleksa Chambers) created a system to help students when they get locked out of their dorms.

Concordia White (Anna Chen and Matthew Kruse) created a system for finding unoccupied study rooms around campus.

Concordia Gold (Kondwani Mtawali and PJ Maestas) came up with a social media discovery platform.

Concordia Sky (Aaron Cumming and David Marin) created a community bulletin board for campus activities such as clubs or academic communities.

"Of the four teams that competed in the competitive programming contest, two of our teams, Concordia Blue and Concordia Sky, placed in the top three, with Concordia Blue placing first," added Kollipara.

Competitive programming teams included:

Concordia Blue (Aaron Cumming, Silas Curtis and Noah Niederklein)

Concordia Sky (Tytus Woodburn and Isaac Dawson)

Concordia Gold (Matthew Kruse, PJ Maestas and Lawson Fairchild)

Concordia White (Ethan L'Heureux, Caden Korell and David Marin)

Concordia Gold and Concordia White placed 14th and 13th respectively in the programming contest. Concordia Sky placed third, and Concordia Blue placed first.

The Programming Team competes and practices for multiple programming contests each year, competing against schools around the world including large, prestigious universities such as MIT.

About Concordia University, Nebraska

Concordia University, Nebraska, founded in 1894, is a fully accredited, coeducational university of The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod located in Seward, Nebraska, which currently serves more than 1,700 students. Concordia offers more than 100 undergraduate, graduate and professional programs in an excellent academic and Christ-centered community that equips men and women for lives of learning, service and leadership in the church and world. For more information, visit cune.edu.

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