Five undergraduate students from University of Â鶹´«Ã½ at ²Ñ¨¡²Ô´Ç²¹¡¯s (ICS) won an international hackathon competition, putting their elite computer programming and development skills on display. The team took home $5,000 in cash and services for the win. Another UH ²Ñ¨¡²Ô´Ç²¹ team won third place, winning $1,200 in cash and services.
The October 15–20 challenged teams to build an impactful application for a cause, a business model, a non-profit or other field. The hackathon was hosted by Meteor Software, a startup that created Meteor, a free and open-source JavaScript web framework.
UH ²Ñ¨¡²Ô´Ç²¹ teams
Anna Campainha, Daphne Estacio, Jerome Gallego, Michael Gainey and Timothy Huo won first place for “EcoCamino,” an application designed to support the organization of sustainability-related events such as cleanups and workshops that increase environmental awareness among the public.
“Behind every great app is a lot of hard work and communication to meet deadlines and create something special,” said Campainha, an ICS senior. “The hackathon taught me areas that I thrive in versus the areas I need to improve. These are not situations you encounter daily until you¡¯re competing to develop a project and have a team relying on you to do your part.”
Estacio, also an ICS senior, added, “For me, the best thing about joining a hackathon was the self exploration I experienced. Not only did it test the knowledge and the skills that I already have, but it also showed me that I am capable of so much more than I thought.”
Yong Kim, Yeji Han, Kai Hwang and Cheolhoon Choi won third place for “CoKoa,” an application to support organization of safe face-to-face meetings during the pandemic.
All of the students participated in the hackathon as part of an ICS special topics course taught by Professor Philip Johnson. “Hackathons provide a fast-paced development experience in which team communication, creativity, adaptability and hard work are keys to success. These same qualities are highly valued in Â鶹´«Ã½‘s high tech industry. I feel all the students who participated learned important lessons that are difficult to obtain in a traditional classroom setting,” he said.
This program is an example of UH ²Ñ¨¡²Ô´Ç²¹¡¯s goals of (PDF) and (PDF), two of four goals identified in the (PDF), updated in December 2020.