By Sherry DiBari

Twice a year, hundreds of Hampton Roads schoolchildren swarm Old Dominion University's Webb Center during the Great Computer Challenge to compete in various computer applications and programming skills.

This year, however, a special online edition combining the junior (grades 3-5) and senior (grades 6-12) will be held May 15 via Zoom.

The challenge, now in its 36th year, is a joint project of WHRO, the Consortium for Interactive Instruction and ODU.

Registration for the challenge will be accepted until March 26.

The cybersecurity challenge will be omitted this year. As an alternative, the Great Computer Challenge has partnered with the ODU School of Cybersecurity for the Cyber Ops Conference's National Cybersecurity Competition on April 16 and 17.

Doug Streit, executive director of IT Security & Planning and chief information security officer for ODU's Information Technology Services, explained the combined event.

"There will not be separate senior and junior competitions, but a subset of categories that include some Level II (grades 3-5), Level III (grades 6-9) and Level IV (grades 10-12) challenges."

Results of the cybersecurity competition will be highlighted at the Great Computer Challenge awards ceremony.

More information can be found at the Great Computer Challenge website.

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