The Riverina Inter-School Programming Championship is set up much like a sporting event, involving a five-week training course that will culminate in a playoff between school teams.

Among the participants is Hugo Currie, a year 10 student at The Riverina Anglican College.

The 15-year-old has been using the Python programming language to create artificial intelligence and machine learning.

The ultimate goal is to then use the AI to create self-driving cars.

So far, his works have been implemented into self-driving car simulations.

"The computer teaches itself how to drive a car without hitting anything," Hugo said.

"Nothing in the real world, but it's just getting an idea about the different sorts of roads and scenarios.

"It's in the Python language, a multi-platform language so it works for my project."

As for the future, Hugo said his interests lie in AI and machine learning because they are emerging fields.

"[There are] a lot of possibilities," he said.

"There's a lot of AI predicting outcomes in medicine and a lot of advances in the medical field in making things more accurate.

"I like AI and am looking to do engineering and try to put both of those together.

"My IT class in year nine was really the first time I had coded and it really hooked me because I love the problem solving and challenging aspect to it.

"So I've just been building up from that."

Similarly, his year-10 schoolmate Inigo Bardos has been preparing for the championship by developing a scoreboard program for games.

"It took me around two days to finish," Inigo said.

"Basically programming and getting all the points in the right place and the scores in order.

"That way it can program itself to determine the outcome."

As for the competition, the youngster said it will be "a really amazing experience where we can actually use our experiences we've been taught in the classroom".

"So it's a really good thing we're looking forward to.

"Also just enjoying and using the skills to have a little bit of fun as well."

He said that because technology now permeates most things in society, coding and digital skills are more important than ever.

The inter-school program is opened to year 7-10 students from beginner to advanced across the region.

It is a partnership between TRAC, Charle Sturt University's AgriTech Incubator and Code Club Australia.

"For me as a teacher, I want to connect with all the other schools in Wagga," TRAC's STEM teacher Isaac Mannion said.

"It's like athletics and sport — our sporting teams are really good because they're competing with each other and building each other up.

"So why not do the same thing with coding?"

The championship will involve teams battling each other in solving scenarios using programming skills where $500 worth prizes will be won.

"We're really pleased to support STEM initiatives in the Riverina and to be developing the skills of our students," ATI project officer Siobhain Howard said.

The Riverina Inter-School Programming Championship is funded by CSU and the NSW Government through the CSU AgriTech Incubator under the Jobs for NSW Local Innovation Network scheme and Boosting Business Innovation Program.

The main competition event, now open to all Riverina high schools, will be held at CSU in Wagga on Friday June 21.

Teams of three students can be registered here, with a maximum of two teams per school.

Registrations close on April 8.

For further information, contact Ms Siobhain Howard: 02 6933 4004 or sihoward@csu.edu.au.

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