Hack Pennsylvania, a 24-hour high school coding event co-organized by State College Area High School students, will be held from noon on Saturday to noon on Sunday at Good Shepherd Catholic Church in State College.
Hack Pennsylvania will be the largest high school hackathon ever organized in Pennsylvania, according to a press release. More than 200 students from six states across the Northeast have registered for the event, which aims to empower high school students to learn to code by making exciting projects in a fun, safe and educational environment.
The event’s six organizers, three of whom are students at State High, spent the last four months raising nearly $15,000 from more than a dozen companies, including ZEIT, the creator of a new platform for developers to put their websites online. The sponsorship will provide free food, giveaways, prizes and travel reimbursements for attendees.
Students aged 13 and older will have 24 hours to form teams and make an app, game or website, with mentors and workshops to help along the way. Judges and mentors will come from Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco.
On Sunday morning, projects will be judged and teams that place will win $2,000 in prizes such as AirPods, Google Home and cameras.
“Learning to code changed my life as a teenager. It empowered me with a platform to communicate my ideas to the world,” said Lachlan Campbell, a State High senior and lead organizer of Hack Pennsylvania. “After organizing Pennsylvania’s first high school community hackathon last spring, Hack Pennsylvania will set a new record as the largest high school coding event in the state. I’m so excited to see the hard work of our whole team come to fruition this weekend, empowering so many of our fellow students with this essential skill.”
Registration and more info about the event can be found at hackpenn.com.
