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Olympiad Contestants Practice at IACS
Middle and high school students and their parents from across Long Island gathered at IACS on Sunday, January 14 to practice for the upcoming NACLO contest.
Photo by Prof. Jeffrey Heinz
On January 14, IACS hosted a practice session for the North American Computational
Linguistics Olympiad (NACLO). NACLO is a contest in which middle and high-school students
solve linguistic puzzles using logic, reason and computational principles. Fourteen
middle and high-school students participated along with some of their parents and
teachers, representing Dawnwood Middle School, Comsewogue High School, Half Hollow
Hills High School East, Half Hollow Hills High School West, the Long Island School
for the Gifted, and the Stony Brook School. Professor Christina Tortora (CUNY Linguistics)
introduced the practice session with an overview of the science of language, and then
the students broke into two groups to practice problems. The groups were mentored
by five graduate students from the department of Linguistics. Stony Brook University
Lingustics Professors Jeffrey Heinz, Richard Larson, and Lori Repetti were also in
attendance. Professor Larson said, "I thought the intro presentation by Prof. Christina
Tortora was terrific and engaging. And looking into the problem solving rooms afterwards,
it was clear the kids were totally engaged. A great job and a fun afternoon!" The
NACLO contest itself takes place on January 25.
For more information about NACLO, visit http://www.nacloweb.org/.