HackAHS, sponsored by the Alpharetta Technology Commission, recently hosted 100 students from around Atlanta to spend their entire Saturday meeting new people and building amazing products. Of the participants that attended, 91% were first-timers to a hackathon, 61% could not code, 28% took AP Computer Science, and 11% were knowledgeable enough to build a product. With the number of newcomers on the scene, we hope these events continue to help build the next generation of techies in Atlanta.
Anthony Liu was a major leader planning HackAHS since its founding and gave us a rundown of the event:
“Some of the participants I chatted with brought their desktops to work on a data-visualization iOS app for car prices, while others came to learn skills from basic coding to 3d-modeling. One group of participants built a Unity first person shooter for the first time, and also learned how to create each of the 3D art assets used in the game. Another group spent time building a Yelp app to aggregate the locations of a group to decide on a decently rated mid-way meeting point.”
“While 3 months prior to the event, I was hoping to make HackAHS available to 350 students, I am still incredibly satisfied with the turnout. The biggest accomplishment to come from this event is the fact that we were even able to make it happen. We jumped through hurdle after hurdle to get the school on board with the concept of a hackathon, but in the end we made it with the incredible help of our school’s principal, Dr. Kersey, and all of the wonderful teacher volunteers and student mentors. With the success of what happened Saturday, I’m confident events will be easier to pull off with even greater success in the future.”
Breakdown of attendees from this year’s HackAHS
- Year in School:
Freshman: 14%
Sophomores: 34%
Juniors: 19%
Seniors: 33%
- School Attendance:
Alpharetta High School: 58%
Chattahoochee High School: 17%
Northview High School: 8%
John’s Creek High School: 6%
Roswell High School: 6%
Other: 5%
- Gender:
Male: 64%
Female: 36%
- Most Popular Topics (Favored from Top to Bottom):
Web
iOS
Gaming
Android
Social Impact
Hardware
Biotech/Health
Virtual Reality
