PennApps Fall 2013 kicks off with a bang

Welcome to the largest college hackathon ever

PennApps kicked off on Friday afternoon with free food, free swag, and a series of API talks, as well as speeches from Andrew Kortina, the CEO of Venmo; Eduardo Glandt, the Dean of the School of Engineering; and Mayor Michael Nutter, the mayor of Philadelphia.

On Friday afternoon, student hackers line up to sign in at PennApps, the largest student-run hackathon ever. (Photo by Sam Riggs.)

The line stretches around the block as thousands of hackers wait to sign in and take a seat in Penn’s Irvine Auditorium. (Photo by Sam Riggs.)

Daniel Moroz, a PennApps organizer, signs in Cassidy Williams, a hacker from Iowa State. (Photo by Sam Riggs.)

PennApps volunteers sign hackers in, and give them wristbands, bags of swag, and schedules for the rest of the weekend. (Photo by Sam Riggs.)

Outside, hackers feast on pulled pork sandwiches, wings, mashed potatoes, and mac and cheese, sponsored by Facebook. This is the first of many meals throughout the weekend. (Photo by Sam Riggs.)

Inside, Irvine Auditorium, one of largest venues at the university, is at capacity. Hackers and sponsors sit in the balcony seats and stand in the aisles. (Photo by Sam Riggs.)

Pulak Mittal, who has spearheaded PennApps since 2011, announced that he was passing the torch to the next generation of hackathon organizers. This is his last PennApps. (Photo by Sam Riggs.)

Nick Meyer, PennApps’s Director of Sponsorship, hunches offstage with other organizers, as Andrew Kortina, founder of Venmo, welcomes the hackers to PennApps. (Photo by Jiali Sheng.)

Barris Yuksel, software engineer at Google, prepares for his demo in style. (Photo by Jiali Sheng.)

Hacking commences in Penn’s School of Engineering! (Photo by Jiali Sheng.)

Photos by Sam Riggs and Jiali Sheng. Captions by Tess Rinearson.