SLO Hacks? What’s that?
Since sophomore year of high school, I’ve been extremely lucky to have had opportunities to attend hackathons for free in multiple countries, states, and cities. How often do you see a high school student flying across the country for a weekend? What about a college student ditching their dead week to fly to Italy? Probably not often, and yes, finals after Italy were painful.
You might be wondering, what’s a hackathon? Check out Dave Fontenot’s post detailing hackathons. TL;DR: 24–36 hour events where people can build anything they want — augmented reality games, robotic arms, Tinder for dogs, you name it.
As a high schooler, I was upset that at most hackathons, I’d never see familiar faces, that no one would introduce themselves to me and say “Hey, I’m from Los Altos High, too!”, that I’d fly or drive alone. Thankfully, the hackathon community was and still is welcoming and inclusive to everyone. I’ve met students founding clubs and companies, mentors kicking ass in their professional lives, sponsors giving back to the hackathon community.
I founded and ran Los Altos Hacks during my senior year, hoping that more students from my high school would become interested in hackathons. Long story short — it worked, and I ended up seeing a lot more students from my high school being active in the hackathon community.
Unsurprisingly, I had a similar problem at my college, Cal Poly SLO. You’d think that at an university five times bigger than my high school, there’d be more students passionate about hackathons.
There was another hackathon that was more product-focused and didn’t embody the hackathon community I saw at other collegiate hackathons. I wanted something that prioritized technical achievement, something that included the worldwide hacker community.
January 2017: I found a group of seven people who were interested in starting a hackathon with me.
February 1, 2017: The seven of us had a meeting, where we came up with the name “SLO Hacks”.
Fast forward a year to February 3, 2018: SLO Hacks 2018, a 200-student, 24-hour collegiate hackathon, is finally happening.
SLO Hacks. Our mission used to be hosting one yearly event, but now, we’re a Cal Poly club hosting quarterly hackathons, a life-changing experience to beginner and veteran coders alike, and a movement bridging San Luis Obispo’s community with the rest of the world.
We have a few goals:
- To bring the hackathon community we see around California, around the USA, and heck, even around the world, right here to San Luis Obispo
- To inspire students in San Luis Obispo to start attending more hackathons not only in SLO, but also out of town
- To give students an opportunity to have fun and build anything they want over a weekend
- To champion underrepresented minorities and majors at our events — we truly aspire to be an inclusive event and club
One event down, but this is just the beginning. Small town, big ideas — we’re going to change Cal Poly.
If you’d like to hear more about SLO Hacks or have any questions, tweet me @selynnasun!
