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HCC Student From Shelton Shines In State Coding Competition

SHELTON, Conn. — Mahdi Saeikhalili, an international Housatonic Community College student and Shelton resident, recently won second place in the finals of the Connecticut Skills Challenge, which was organized by the Connecticut Technology Council.

Mahdi Saeikhalili

Mahdi Saeikhalili

Photo Credit: Contributed photo

The challenge is a coding and engineering contest for the state’s top student coders. The event was held Saturday, Dec. 3, at the Yale School of Management in New Haven.

Saeikhalili is in his first year at Bridgeport's HCC in the Computer Science Program and he is majoring in Computer Information Systems.

He was one of the top 50 statewide competitive computer programmers selected to take part in the event. He qualified earlier this year at preliminary events.

The 50 competitors, representing 13 colleges and universities in the state, were divided into 10 teams. The teams each selected a project from a prepared list that they had to complete and prove within a given time period, according to a release from HCC. 

With the competition from 9 a.m. to  2 p.m., competitors had to create and design a computer program that accomplished the task set forth by the project. Saeikhalili’s team was randomly arranged from the competitors in the finals.

The second-place win gave Saeikhalili’s team $2,500, or $500 each.

The Connecticut Technology Council is an association of technology-oriented companies and institutions dedicated to innovation and providing leadership and networking assistance for growing companies.

Saeikhalili served an apprenticeship this past summer with A100, a program that provides technical training to aspiring software developers to get them start-up ready.

HCC is a member of the Northeast Resiliency Consortium composed of seven colleges receiving a grant from the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training Grant Program (TAACCCT), which has enhanced the HCC Computer Information System Program curriculum and provided Saeikhalili with support toward his career goal.

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