Women’s Programming Marathon brings together students at IMPA Tech
Campus welcomed young people from different institutions in Rio this Saturday (23)
More than a thousand students from all over Latin America took part in the first phase of the Women’s Programming Marathon (MFP) on Saturday (23). One of the 66 local venues for this year’s competition, IMPA Tech welcomed 24 participants to its campus, 12 of whom were students from the institution. There were also students from UFRJ (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro), UFF (Fluminense Federal University), FGV (Getulio Vargas Foundation) and Colégio Pedro II.
Aimed at students from high school to postgraduate level, the MFP is organized by the Brazilian Computer Society (SBC) and supported by the Unicamp Computer Institute. In the competition, participants must solve eight algorithmic problems in a welcoming and collaborative environment. The initiative aims to reduce gender inequality in technology and encourage the presence of women in the programming field.
“It’s a very important and productive activity. We don’t usually see many girls in this field and MFP encourages us to participate in programming, creating a community with girls from different places who can grow together. As well as taking the test, I talked to students from other courses at other institutions, such as Engineering and Data Science, exchanging ideas and perspectives,” said IMPA Tech graduate Cristiane Sampaio.
This was the 4th edition of the MFP. In addition to face-to-face participation in local venues, the exam also took place remotely for all interested students. However, as a way of encouraging regional integration, half of the places in the final are reserved for participants from this year’s 66 local venues.
Professor Nara Bobko, IMPA Tech’s academic manager, was the Marathon’s local ambassador, and was assisted by the undergraduates in organizing and administering the test. The young people also kept up the Olympic tradition of handing out colored air balloons to the participants for each correct answer.
The second phase of the MFP will include 130 competitors with the best rankings. The exam will be held in person at Unicamp on August 1st and 2nd. In addition, the finalists will have the opportunity to take part in a technological immersion with talks from sponsoring companies, networking and exclusive dynamics.
IMPA Tech has excelled in competitive marathon activities. Through the extension project ‘ impatecode‘, the students get together to study specific programming content. “We’re creating a really cool Olympic community. We want to continue in this world of the Olympics, so we created the extension project to go beyond classes. At the meetings, we do specific exercises and prepare for the tests, with materials and the help of our classmates,” said Cristiane.
