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According to a release from Learning.com, “Dixon Elementary School in Dixon Kentucky and Little Cypress Junior High School in Orange, Texas, are the grand prize winners in Learning.com's second annual Code-a-Thon, a global competition to introduce coding to elementary and middle school students. Code-a-Thon 2017 registrations topped 650,000, an increase of 164 percent from the competition's inaugural year in 2016. Students who participated in the company's competition, developed their coding skills through a series of increasingly difficult challenges. Dixon Elementary and Little Cypress Junior High will each receive 20 laptops and a free, year-long

subscription to Learning.com's award-winning digital literacy products, EasyTech and EasyCode.”

Little Cypress Junior High (LCJH) teacher, Leigh Martin is the teacher whose classes participated in this competition.

“This has been such an unusual school year.

We have been doing our best to create a new normal for our classroom.

The opportunity to compete in this contest gave the students a chance to forget what Harvey has done and just be kids.

They worked very hard learning to code during the week,” said Martin.

“Students were tasked with programming a monkey to get a banana through increasingly harder levels and challenges.

It required students to plan and problem-solve.

It is a huge feat for them to win this contest.

I am so proud that my students worked so hard in that they earned this award.

I hope winning this contest increases their interest in learning computer science.” Ms.

Martin’s students also compete in robotics competitions.

"We are honored to congratulate the winners of this year's Code-a-Thon," said Learning.com CEO, Keith Oelrich. "During the week-long competition, it was amazing to see students and teachers around the globe complete the coding challenges and enthusiastically build coding skills that will prepare them for success in today's digital economy."

To participate in the 2017 Code-a-Thon, schools registered to receive free access to EasyTech and EasyCode. Between November 13-17, students coded their way through a series of challenges - each with increasing levels of difficulty - earning points for those successfully completed.

Students in Ms.

Martin’s Introduction to Technology classes competing in the Code-a-Thon include Presley Alexander, SaRobbie Angelle, Ste’Ron Angelle, Arnold, Christian Bennett, Garrison Byerly, Rebecca Carrigan, Isaiah Dumas, Phoenix Lawless, Eduardo Mares Dylan Matthews, Seth Nelson, Jr., Colby Ortego, Aleisia Sezer, Zoey Swor, Christopher Welch, II, Tyson Welch, Connor Ziller, Evan Barborek, Kaleigh Belden, Dustin Bland, Blake Clingaman, Taylor Cormier, Emma Ford, Slade Foreman, Nicholas Granger, Andy Guillory III, Rylee Hargroder, Tatum Howard, Mary Jones, Stephen Lawrence, Miguel Molina, Justin Nealy, Jr., Kassidy Swiney, Brooklynn Young, Kaden Baugh, Abigail Bernard, Alayna Booker, Madison Campise, Jenna Comeaux, Eric Davila, Hunter Denman, Montana DiLeo, Gage Griffith, Kolby Jackson, John LeGault, Christian Molina, Austin Nichols, Brynna Parsons, Tracy Qi, Allie Shaffer, Keaton Smith, Tobert Wedel, Caleb Adams, Kyle Carline, Tiffany Cates, Rebecca Forester, McKenzie Freeman, Alyssa Herndon, Abbigail Hudnall, Khaleen Johnson, Icesynce Laird, Brandon Martin, Dillen Martin, McKenneth Martin, Brandon Martin, Brandon May, Jacie Metreyeon, Everett Moses, III, Bradly Powell, Jr., Lanita Smith, Conner Trawhon, and Baylee Wheeler.