25-05-2025
Student competition brings thousands to Michigan State University
LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — While Michigan State University students may be on summer break, the campus has been filled with thousands of kids from around the world.
These students are in East Lansing to participate in the .'
Organizers say the competition helps students to learn creative problem-solving skills, gain self-confidence, and make friends.
More than 600 teams from 31 states and 11 countries are competing to take home awards. About 16,000 guests stayed in the university's dorms, and around 3,500 stayed in hotels in the greater Lansing area.
University officials hope the competition will introduce potential future Spartans to MSU and give a lift to local businesses.
'It means a lot for local restaurants, hotels, shops, it's a lot of people brought into this area that may never come here for any other reason. So it's a really wonderful opportunity to show off our hospitality,' said Kat Cooper of MSU Student Life and Engagement.
Events like these are really important to our region because, number one, it recruits people to come here in the future, and we always want that. But, in the downtime of the university, it can be really hard on local businesses, and we are perfectly poised in this beautiful campus to execute large-scale events,' added Cooper.
The world finals run through May 26, and MSU hopes to host the event again in 2027.
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