CVHS students StRUT their stuff at Cisco competition

Students at CVHS competed in the eleventh annual Silicon Valley StRUT (Students Recycling Used Technology) Competition. Three teams of CVHS students battled 20 other schools for the top prize.

On team “Brute Force” were Ben Hurd, Nolan Reker, and Audrey Zherebenko. On “Grue Crew”  were Philip Kelly, Tyler Rogers, and Brandon Siu. On team “e-LEMON-aters” were Tegan Burns, Alice Liu, and Cynthia Liu. The teams ranked third, fifth, and eleventh place respectively. All three teams were led by CISCO teacher Chris Burns.
StRUT, a non-profit program that recycles and upgrades used computers for schools, divided the competition into four main parts: computer build, presentation, troubleshooting, and written exam. The teams had to give a PowerPoint presentation on a computer they disassembled and reassembled. In addition, they took an exam consisting of 50 challenging multiple choice questions. Over 40 volunteer judges graded the teams’ performance and presentation.
Reker of Brute Force claimed that students were willing to go because “We are awesome and there were prizes.”
Reker, however, was not satisfied with the outcome. “We won webcams which weren’t brand name and kind of sucked because they were donated by Fry’s.”

Liu of Team e-LEMON-aters was satisfied with the overall experience.

“Although my team and I didn’t do as well as we would’ve liked this year, we still had a great time working together,” Liu said. “Everyone got prizes at the end and it was a great way for me to apply what I learned to the real world.”

When asked what her favorite part of the competition was, Liu responded, “The food! They had so many doughnuts for us in the morning!”

Asked what she hoped would happen for the next wave of CISCO students participating in the competition next year, Liu said, “Hopefully we’ll take home the first place victory banner.”

Students participating in the twelfth annual competition next year are expected to compete for top prize and eat many doughnuts.