From DubHacks to Facebook Global Hackathon Finals
Last November, Jessie Ma — a design student from the University of Washington, Seattle — and her team, the ‘Huskies’, were invited to the Facebook Headquarters in Menlo Park, California. The team consisted of two other University of Washington students, John Carlos, Allessandra Quevedo and a student from Cornell University, Aram Baghdassarian. During DubHacks 2018, a Facebook recruiter noticed team Huskies’ project and saw the potential of their innovative idea. Next thing they knew, the Huskies were alongside 21 other incredible teams from across the globe. The teams attending Facebook’s Annual Global Hackathon Finals traveled from 11 countries to compete for a chance to win $10,000.
At DubHacks, the Huskies only consisted of Jessie, John, and Allessandra. As soon as Dubhacks began, the trio began ideating by identifying problems they found within the UW and the Seattle community. After their initial research, they decided to tackle an issue they found prevalent throughout the news, media, and in communities all over the world. Thus, ‘Haven’ was born.
They designed Haven to be a sexual assault reporting app to help connect victims to resources and additional support both during and after the event. It was imperative that they designed an app with a simple and calming interface for users to easily navigate. The app’s main functions were: New Report, Report Now, Contacts, Resources, and Past Reports. They also wanted to highlight this ubiquitous problem by programming the app in several languages. They wanted its accessibility to be universal for all types of users. The app provided users with the ability to quickly send customized messages to their desired contacts, file reports on incidents, and to contact national hotlines and the local police.
Both Jessie and Allessandra worked to design the interface of the app while John coded both the front and back end applications. The app was demonstrated live on both Apple and Android devices.
Just a few hours before the submission deadline, one of our Facebook mentors noticed Haven while he was walking around the team rooms. After meeting with the rest of the team, the Huskies were soon invited to attend Facebook’s Global Hackathon Finals in Menlo Park, California, three weeks later.
At Facebook’s Hackathon, Aram joined the Huskies, where they ideated and developed an app called ‘Treatment Without Borders’. They designed it to assist children to receive proper medical care by translating their words through visual aid. They were inspired by Doctors without Borders, a humanitarian NGO that supplies medical professionals to deliver care in conflict zones and countries affected by endemic diseases. Under the mentorship of a Facebook employee, they found an applicable solution. In a quick 24 hours, the Huskies worked to complete a communication tool for medical professionals and younger patients from around the globe.
With unique experiences ranging from exploring the arcades at Facebook HQ to introducing bubble tea to the Israeli and Australian teams, Jessie found the importance of hackathons. DubHacks was her first hackathon ever and she is excited to participate in many more. Through her experience at Facebook, she realized, “hackathons are so much more than a single day event, they have the potential to make a real impact.” Not only did the team get the chance to create a new project, but they created memories that would empower them to continue investigating and solving problems in their communities. We completely agree and believe that a hackathon is an ideal catalyst to connect, empower, and create.
Our team here at DubHacks strives to use our event as a springboard for young students to create ideas that make a sustainable impact on the communities that matter to them. Through our amazing generous at Facebook, Jessie and the rest of the Huskies team were able to use DubHacks as a platform to gain exposure and experience the once in a lifetime opportunity of Facebook’s Global Hackathon Finals. We want to thank Facebook for all their support in DubHacks 2018 and congratulate the Huskies on all their hard work! We are so proud of the work their team has done and hope this project continues to grow. As we move into this year’s event we are excited to extend similar opportunities to more attendees. We wish Jessie and her team all the best!
DubHacks website: https://dubhacks.co/
DubHacks Twitter: https://twitter.com/DubHacks
DubHacks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DubHacks-1497687910461792/
Link to Jessie’s portfolio on the app Treatment Without Borders/Haven: https://jayma.design/haven
