Hornets Hack into the Future with Creative App Design

CycleSYNC’s team featured juniors Gavin Luo, Marvens Cellus, Tyler Tong, and Anthony Chow. Photo: Ms. Janet Gillespie

By CALEB SAMPSON and FRANCIS LINDAMAN

The halls buzzed with excitement on Saturday, December 13, as the 8th annual hackathon booted up, challenging the creative ability of over 100 Midwood students. 

In the annex, Hornets’ gears were turning as they tried to come up with apps to fit this year's theme, “reprogramming the future.” This was no quick or easy task, as students worked from 8:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m., when their projects were scored by 13 judges to determine which stood out the most. This year featured an extra twist: winners would be crowned across three subcategories – Community, Education, and Healthcare.

The “Community” winner was HowieGrow, by Diana Felder, Jade Diep, Fanny Wu, Muhammad Akhter, and Vianna Deng. “Education” went to EduSearch by Ozan Sen, Mailyn Chang, and Lena Li, and “Healthcare” went to CycleSYNC by Gabin Lou, Marvens Celius, Anthony Chow, and Tyler Tong. An honorable mention under the Community category was given to T.S. Bot by Asha Archer, Oluwajembola Orioke, Evan Ko, Lixin Lin, and Jaden Paynter.

The judges were made up of Midwood faculty and an alumnus who had won two hackathons as a student.

HowieGrow envisioned a mechanical bee that would plant and manage gardens to reduce heat islands in cities. “We were inspired by Howie the Hornet [the school’s mascot],” said Felder. “We thought some kind of flying machine would be cool, so we thought of gardening." 

CycleSYNC’s idea was a chip designed to track hormone spikes and vital signs in women during pregnancy, menopause, and their menstrual cycles.

“We wanted to address the dropping birth rate and fertility,” said Celius. “We concluded this trend might be tied to a lack of access to medical services.”

EduSearch imagined an educational search engine that would compile data from schools all across America. “Think of it like Google Maps for schools,” said Sen.

Hackathon has become an important tradition, breeding creativity every year and helping students discover something they love. You didn’t need to be a tech wiz to join in on the fun. “We were trying to get students interested even if they weren't necessarily enrolled in our courses,” said Ms. Janet Gillespie, a lead organizer for the event.