The McLean High School Competitive Programming Club is gearing up for its inaugural tournament season, with plans to compete and travel to national coding competitions for the first time since the club’s founding in 2023. Led by senior co-captains Eric Xue, David Sheng, Aiden Feyerherm, and Gregory Perrett, the team is eagerly anticipating the upcoming season.
The club hopes to compete at the Philadelphia Classic (PClassic) next April. Hosted biannually by the University of Pennsylvania, the PClassic is Pennsylvania’s premier competitive programming competition, boasting over hundreds of participants and organizers from around the country.
“I’m excited because this is our first travel competition,” Xue said. “I don’t really have any expectations on how well we’ll do, but I think it’s a good experience for the club members.”
Established to foster students’ problem-solving skills and promote computational literacy in a fast-paced environment, the club has grown in both size and enthusiasm, setting ambitious goals. With 20 active members this year–a slight increase from last year–the club has been ramping up preparations, meeting weekly to perfect their programming skills.
“The most valuable thing you can do is practice contests,” Xue said. “They usually take a while and most people aren’t able to complete them at home due to schoolwork or sports, so we dedicate our meetings to working through them.”
In addition to practice contests, the captains host lectures on topics that might come up during competitions, including data structures, algorithms, methods of problem solving and other helpful tips. Members divide into smaller teams, allowing them to focus on different areas of improvement.
“Our team practices are designed to simulate real competition environments,” Xue said. “We’re not just practicing–we’re learning how to work efficiently under time constraints.”
Xue conducts most of the lectures, while other club leaders like Sheng handle the administrative tasks. Duties rotate each meeting: one person delivers the lecture while the others walk around to answer questions or assist members with solving practice problems.
Despite logistical hiccups last year, the club’s hard work has already led to promising results, with nearly all members participating in the USA Computing Olympiad (USACO), the most prestigious pre-college level computer programming competition in the country, and 11 students now competing in the silver or gold divisions.
Looking ahead, Xue and his team hope to gain valuable experience and work toward eventually matching the success of other leading programming teams, such as the one at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology.
“Our end goal is to catch up to TJ’s team,” Xue said. “They’re able to teach more advanced content since they have so many members and also go to way more competitions, so we’re looking to achieve that this year.”
