Albuquerque Public Schools
Students Earn Honors at Supercomputing Challenge Expo
Research project on teen homelessness earns multiple awards and scholarship recognition.
After spending the school year researching and coding solutions connected to teen homelessness, the Fighting Shadows Supercomputing Team recently traveled to Los Alamos to present its work at the Supercomputing Challenge Expo.
The team shared its final project with a panel of judges, including computer scientists and other professionals, highlighting both the technical and community impacts of their research. During the trip, students also toured the National Laboratories and explored the town of Los Alamos.
The students’ hard work earned several honors at the competition. The team received the NetLogo Agent Based Model Award for its coding work, the Community Impact Award for the relevance of its research, and the Magellan Award recognizing perseverance and overcoming hardship. Each award included a cash prize.
Senior Jazmine Aquino also received a scholarship to support her next steps at Central New Mexico Community College and was invited to return next year as a judge for the Supercomputing Expo.
Team member Nadia Montano said she is proud of the group’s accomplishments and is excited to continue her research and coding work next year.
The experience highlighted not only students’ technical skills, but also their commitment to using technology and research to address important community issues.