Principians Win Regional MasterCard Masters of Code Competition
Competing against 20 teams, Principians won first place at the MasterCard Masters of Code event in St. Louis in early October. After 24 hours of round-the-clock coding, the team presented its mobile app prototype FanFare to a panel of judges, becoming the youngest team to win a regional event.
The assignment was to create an ultimate fan experience, using a platform chosen by the team. Principia’s team programmed a web application optimized for mobile. “The word ultimate stood out to us from the start,” team member Annika Erickson, a junior, explains. “We approached the project from the standpoint of community building—enabling users to build an interest profile and connect with others who share similar interests, from sports and music to art and favorite television shows. Users could share rides with other St. Louis Cardinals or Blues fans or attend a concert together, for example.”
Team members attribute their success to a strong collaborative dynamic. Computer science visiting professor Cameron Dutro (C’10), also a member of the team, noted the significance of this: “Sometimes teams don’t really gel, and this one truly did,” he says. A last-minute addition to the team was also integral to the first-place finish. Saint Louis University business student Austin Smith arrived at the competition without a team, after learning that he might be able to join one on the spot. During a brief networking phase of the event prior to the coding competition, solo competitors like Austin introduced themselves to the groups, hoping to join a team with fewer than five people, the maximum allowed. Recognizing Austin’s potential on the business side, Principia’s team recruited him even though he had no coding background. Austin spent most of the 24 hours researching and developing ideas to highlight FanFare’s path towards profitability. He also brought much-needed snacks, power cords, and other supplies to the programmers.
Regrouping after Hitting a Technical Wall
“We coded in small, manageable chunks,” Dutro explains. “We faced major challenges and hit a technical wall at one point, but we regrouped and changed the programming language we used—from Ember Javascript to the open-source web framework Ruby on Rails—and moved forward. Throughout the night, we drew on what we learn in Christian Science—that God provides all the energy we need.”
Since the competition took place just as the St. Louis Cardinals were making a run toward a spot in the World Series, the team got creative with the prototype and included a fictitious 27–3 winning score for the Cardinals over their longtime rivals the Chicago Cubs to illustrate how the app builds excitement and civic pride. Meanwhile, through the night, Austin was developing and carefully rehearsing a highly effective project pitch that clinched the team’s win.
The next stop is the Grand Finale Masters of Code competition December 5–7 in Silicon Valley, where the winners of regional events around the world will compete. The Grand Finale includes tours of technology companies and networking opportunities with programmers and executives, and the winner will receive a cash award and a trip to MasterCard’s Technology Center in Dublin, Ireland, among other prizes. “We’re very excited about representing Principia at the Grand Finale,” Dutro says. “I’ve always appreciated the achievements of Principia’s solar car and mediation teams, and it is an honor to contribute to this kind of success.”