Iowa Girls Win Programming Prize

Rebekah Van Maanen, Xi Sen Hou, and Shaina Kollis became the first all-girl team to win the computer programming contest held at the University of South Dakota, Vermillion, in the contest’s 28-year history. The girls attend Western Christian High School in Hull, Iowa. They also took first place at a similar event at Northeast Community College in Norfolk, Neb. They won the high school division and took third place in the college division. Alden Altena, the girls’ coach, said there are usually only one or two girls in the whole contest. “There are no other all-girl teams,” she said.