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Left to right: HPU Associate Professor Curt Powley; HPU President John Gotanda; winning HPU international collegiate programming team members John Marcos, Pierre Erard, Adriane Fiesta; other competing team members Joshua Leonard, Matthew Holck, and Keʻalohi Young; HPU Acting Provost Brenda Jensen; and HPU Acting Dean of the College of Natural and Computational Sciences Carrie Jones.
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HPU Division I First Place team #0000FF, pictured left to right: HPU Associate Professor Curt Powley; HPU President John Gotanda; team members John Marcos, Pierre Erard, and Adriane Fiesta; HPU Acting Provost Brenda Jensen; and HPU Acting Dean of the College of Natural and Computational Sciences Carrie Jones.
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HPU Division I Team #00FF00, pictured left to right: HPU Associate Professor Curt Powley; HPU President John Gotanda; team members Joshua Leonard, Matthew Holck, and Keʻalohi Young; HPU Acting Provost Brenda Jensen; and HPU Acting Dean of the College of Natural and Computational Sciences Carrie Jones.
HPU took first place in Hawai’i at this year’s International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC), Pacific Northwest Region in Division I, contending against the University of Hawai’i at Hilo (UH Hilo) and BYU Hawai’i. HPU competed in Division I, the elite and most advanced division, and did not compete in Division II. A total of six HPU students competed, with two three-person teams.
HPU has won the top spot in Hawai’i 14 times out of 23 Hawai’i contests, a remarkable accomplishment that has not been matched by any other university in Hawai’i. The contest was first held in 2003, and HPU won in that inaugural year.
The consistent excellence of HPU is evident in their 14 Division I victories across multiple years, including 2003, 2006, 2011, 2012, the impressive streak from 2014 to 2021, 2023, and in 2025. Meanwhile, UH Hilo has claimed victory six times, and BYU Hawai’i has won thrice. The University of Hawai’i at Manoa, having entered the contest in 2015, is still pursuing its first win.
The ICPC is recognized as the largest and most prestigious programming competition globally, with over 73,000 students and 12,250 coaches from more than 3,400 universities in 103 countries competing annually.
The contest pits teams of three university students against 10 or more complex, real-world problems with a grueling five-hour deadline. Huddled around a single computer, competitors race against the clock in a battle of logic, strategy, and mental endurance.
Participation in the contest provides students with invaluable skills, including advanced programming, problem-solving, and teamwork. Two HPU computer science graduates who later worked at Google credited their ICPC experience with helping them secure their roles. They noted that many of their interview questions mirrored program-contest scenarios, emphasizing the practical benefits of the competition.
HPU Associate Professor of Computer Science Curt Powley, Ph.D., coach of the HPU computer programming teams, remarked that “this competition pushes students to tackle complex challenges as a team, preparing them for real-world scenarios in computer science. HPU competes in the Pacific Northwest Region, one of the toughest regions in the United States.”
HPU’s winning team name is #0000FF, the hexadecimal-number-system code for the color blue.
The HPU students who competed on this year’s Division I teams are:
- Team #0000FF: Pierre Erard, Adriane Fiesta, John Marcos
- Team #00FF00: Matthew Holck, Ke’alohi Young, Joshua Leonard
If an HPU student is interested in joining the award-winning computer programming team, Powley mentioned that they welcome all undergraduate and graduate students aiming to enhance their programming skills. They particularly encourage students in STEM majors such as computer science, math, engineering, biology, chemistry, environmental science, marine biology, marine science, and economics. Powley emphasized that every student brings valuable skills to the table.
“We have now had math, biology, engineering, and computer science majors who have competed in the ICPC,” said Powley. “Any student who works hard in preparing for and competing in the contest will greatly increase his or her programming and problem-solving skills. Visiting international students have also done extremely well competing for HPU, and we welcome them as well. HPU typically enters between two to six three-person teams in the contest, so there are plenty of slots for students to compete.”
For additional information on how to join one of HPU’s computer science programming teams, email Powley at: cpowley@hpu.edu.
