HACKATHON
Our annual, free twelve-hour coding competition for high school students of all coding abilities.
WHAT IS HACKATHON?
Hackathon is a free, 10 hour competition for high school students that is run entirely by students and mentors from FRC Team 2485. In the time provided, students design, program, and debug a project that centers around a theme provided at the beginning of the day using any software and available hardware they wish.
Students compete in groups of 2-5 that are either pre-formed or formed the day of the competition with new students from other schools. At the end of the day, we award prizes for the four best projects which are judged on a variety of factors. You may not use any pre-existing codebases: all competition code should be generated the day of the competition itself.
This year's Hackathon will be held on Saturday, October 30. The event will be held virtually, however teams will be allowed to meet in-person off campus. This year’s theme is Pirates!
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
DO I NEED A GROUP BEFORE I COME?
Not at all! If you want to come with friends in a preformed group, that’s fine, but it is 100% okay and encouraged to come to the event and form a group with new people you meet there. In fact, it’s an amazing way to meet people you otherwise wouldn’t have known, form connections, and produce a really amazing product that you didn’t have the skill yet to produce completely alone.
WHAT HAPPENS IF I HAVE NO/EXTREMELY LITTLE PROGRAMMING EXPERIENCE?
It’s not a problem at all. Mentors and experienced students will be available on-site all day, so if you’re interested in coming, we are more than happy to help you create a project in simpler, more intuitive programming languages such as Processing and Scratch. We will also be running optional workshops in the morning to introduce participants to a brief overview of programming.
WHO IS ELIGIBLE TO ATTEND THE HACKATHON?
All students currently in high school are eligible to attend the hackathon, regardless of prior programming ability.
WILL THERE BE ANYBODY TO HELP ME WITH MY PROJECT?
Mentors with several years of experience in computer science will be available, as well as older students from our team. If you are confused on what to do or struggling with a problem, there will be plenty of people happy to help you!
HOW WILL OUR PROJECTS BE JUDGED?
The judges will factor in originality, design, years of experience, and concept in addition to execution. The tentative rubric can be seen here. You will also receive their feedback after the competition takes place.
WHAT SHOULD I BRING?
Bring your laptop and charger, as we cannot loan out these items (especially your laptop). Other than that, there is nothing you need unless there are any materials of your own you want to use to program your project. We will provide breakfast, lunch, and dinner so you don’t need to worry about bringing food or money.