Sitting: Husna Sheik (Grade 8), Nikita Arunajallem (Grade 8) and Miss K Reddy
The Arena Park Secondary coding team is ready to end this year off with a bang as they gear up to compete against Ireland after scooping the title of the Tangible Africa Mandela Day National Secondary School winners.
The team, comprising learners from grades 8 and 9, began their journey in July this year when they were invited to compete in the nationwide coding competition. Coding coach and educator, Keshani Reddy, said that while they were excited to participate, they were also apprehensive as they had no experience with coding prior to the competition. She said: “The learners worked through their breaks and any free time they had to master the game. We entered three teams (as per competition rules) and on 18 July at the regional tournament held at Crossmoor Secondary School, our school was placed first and second. “Our number-one team, Strangers Play Rangers, were then entered into the provincial tournament which took place at Clarence Primary School on 25 August. It was such a grand affair as we got to meet and chat with Dr Albertina Luthuli, a true legend and inspiration to our learners. We were once again placed first in the secondary school division.” The national competition took place on Tuesday, 25 October. This leg of the competition took place online and the team was given a time slot to choose from.
“We opted for the 2pm-4pm time slot. We were given an energy crisis and although we were given a maximum of two hours to complete the task, we were required to solve this crisis using the least number of resources in the fastest time. Knowing that we had to think out of the box for this random, unseen pattern, as 2pm struck, we frantically started clicking on the ‘refresh’ button to receive our task. “Once we were happy with our code, we submitted our answer. On Friday, 28 October, the results were posted on Facebook, informing us that we were placed first in the secondary school category, winning R10 000 for our school,” said Reddy. On hearing the news of their major win, the learners and their coach could not contain their excitement. Reddy said: “To say that we were ecstatic is an understatement. There were tears of joy after the initial shock had worn away. Having a local public school with no prior experience in coding, competing against schools that are far more resourced and being placed first in the country is truly an accolade worth beaming about. My learners were dedicated and worked amazingly as a team from the inception of their group of five.”
The learners said that their success was due to the constant motivation of their coach and that they were thrilled to be representing their community and country internationally. The learners said: “Excited, nervous, anxious and overwhelmed are just some of the emotions that were running through us. To be representing South Africa is such a great honour for us. “Our teamwork was our strength that got us this far but along with that was our awesome educator Miss K Reddy who supported us, guided us and encouraged us to our full abilities. “She believed in us at every step of this journey (and still does) which is our pillar of strength and now we are going head to head with Ireland.” Mrs L Joshua, acting principal of the school, congratulated the team on their huge achievement. “Best wishes to the team, together with our dedicated and motivating team leader and coach, Keshani Reddy, as you compete against Ireland this year,” she said. The international championships where South Africa takes on Ireland will be held on Monday, 5 December.
