For the ninth consecutive year, the Unicamp Computing Institute hosts and organizes the Programming Marathon Summer School, which aims to train and prepare students for the International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC), global competition in the programming area. The 2020 edition of the School, whose activities began on January 20th and continue until February 2nd, brings as a novelty the encouragement of female participation in competitions.
The incentive occurred through invitations sent especially to 16 young women who had participated in some stage of the competitions. For the guests, all the costs of their stay in Campinas, food and travel were subsidized. “Our goal is for these girls to become examples for others”, says Sandra Avila, professor at the Computing Institute (IC) at Unicamp, who is part of the Summer School organization team. “I know from my own experience that importance of having women who are references in our lives. The power of the example is very strong. If you don’t see a woman doing that, you don’t feel capable”, shares the professor, who at different points in her academic career did not encounter other women in the same training spaces.
This year, 25 women out of a total of 160 students participate in the School's activities. Last year, eight women registered, among the 171 participants. Despite the still low number, the tendency is for a gradual increase, as the experiences of these young women will be shared with other students and, thus, there may be a multiplier effect, according to Sandra.
Willing to overcome prejudice
Luana Belisário and Débora da Silva are two of the students who received the invitations and decided to participate in the Summer School. They are colleagues at the Institute of Mathematical Sciences and Computing (ICMC) at USP, in São Carlos, and are part of the Study Group for Marathon (GEMA). Both participated in the regional stage of the competition for the first time in 2019 and see incentives for female participation in the area as essential. Like Professor Sandra, they believe in the power of example.
“Even though we know that it is an area more dominated by men, we help to set an example for other girls who want to participate. It’s important not to give up and not be intimidated”, says Débora. The student says she is very happy to study at the Summer School, as she sees the training as a complement to her degree and as a help to open doors in her professional life.
Covering the costs, shares Luana, was essential for her to come to Unicamp. “These initiatives are important, the incentive is very good for us to come”. Training, for her, has been relevant to instigate reasoning, learn algorithms and optimize codes. Like Débora, Luana is part of an undergraduate class in which only 15% are women, but she says she is willing to face any prejudice. “Unfortunately, there are few girls in the area, but we are willing to move forward and overcome this,” she says.
Another way that students point out as significant for strengthening women in the area are competitions aimed at women. “It helps us to integrate, to get to know the girls, because sometimes it's difficult to only see men”, observes Débora.
The school
The first two editions of the Programming Marathon Summer School took place at USP, in 2010 and 2011. Since 2012, Unicamp has hosted the event. IC professor Rafael Schouery, member of the organizing committee, explains that the ten days of activities prepare students for competitions and help in the development of skills valued in the professional field. “This idea of training them, of grounding them well in algorithms is important for both academia and the job market. We always have sponsors who want to hire them because they know they are students who will know how to solve very complicated problems,” he points out.
Among the School's activities, simulations are carried out of the problems that students may encounter in programming marathons. They have, just like in competitions, five hours to solve the questions. Problems are solved in trios and using just one computer, which encourages teamwork. Trainings take place daily and there are ten in total, totaling 50 hours of dedication. Theoretical classes are also taught by experts on the subject, Brazilian and foreign, and lectures are given by sponsors, which this year are Google, Microsoft, VTex, WildLife and Inloco.
According to Professor Rafael, Brazilian teams have already won awards for the best team in Latin America, but there have still been no medal winners in the world finals. “This is a desire we have and the School serves that purpose. This year we have very good teams.” The “Teams with T” teams from USP were crowned gold medalists in the Brazilian stage of the marathon; "Campinas Grande", from Unicamp and "Amigos do Beto", from the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE). The world stage, in which the silver medalists also participated, takes place in Moscow, Russia, in June 2020.
Another positive prognosis, for the teacher, is due to the admission modality of the Olympic vacancies, premiered in 2019 at Unicamp. “In general, the new medalists at the Brazilian Informatics Olympiad are very good and have advanced knowledge. I believe we will start to have very strong teams”, she analyzes.
