Participants in the high school’s first annual Hackathon gathered at 1:15 in the Martin Luther King, Jr. Room after hours of brainstorming, discussion and creation. Students had broken into nine teams and worked with MIT students to identify and address a problem facing high school students.

To end the event, each team presented the problem and innovative solution they had created that day. At the end, judges determined a winner.

The winning group members were sophomores Erik Nakamura and Ben Thomas. The two, who received a $100 cash prize proposed a system to monitor the school’s usage of water and other resources in real-time. This data could be analyzed to find out how the high school can preserve money and resources at very low expense, Nakamura and Thomas said.

Read on for details on all of the nine pitches, including Impact.

Impact (Nakamura and Thomas’ project):

The winning group members, Nakamura and Thomas, are also the founders of the Makers Club at the high school. Although this was their first Hackathon, they said they’ve had experience in using the skills required at the event.

Thomas said that Nakamura had already created the technology for monitoring such real-time data before the Hackathon. As a result, the pair focused on identifying a problem for which this technology could be useful and then figuring out how to apply it.

In their presentation, they explained that inexpensive sensors could be installed in pipes at the high school to monitor how much water passed through each one. By making this information public and easy to interpret in a sort of social media platform, people could be encouraged to think about how much water they use.

“By making small changes to your daily routine and activities throughout the day, you can make big changes to the environment, you can make a big impact,” Thomas said.

Thomas said that Nakamura had tried to implement this project last year, but that he had been unable to.

“It wasn’t until the Hackathon idea was brought to us and Ms. Holman was here and everything that we were really able to show what we were trying to do and raise awareness towards our idea,” he said.

Nakamura said their next goal is to implement Impact at the high school. Their first step is to start with the Unified Arts building and gather as much information as they can. After this, they can expand it to a broader scale.

“Not lose energy. That’s what our goal is,” Nakamura said. “Keeping the momentum going after this. Because I feel like a Hackathon is a giant, insane, strong push, but then how do you keep it going after that?”

StudySmart

The first group to present was actually not composed of high school students, but 5th graders Vivian Rae Chu and Mishael Quriashi. Rae Chu and Quriashi met at the event. Neither had planned on participating.

“I thought we were going to sit there, watching the other teams, and then we ended up doing something,” Quirashi said.

They first joined another team, but Rae Chu said they left and formed their own team due to differing ideas.

Quirashi said that it was difficult at first because they had to address a high school problem despite not being high school students. Their solution was inspired by a mutual interest: the iPhone game “Trivia Crack.”

The duo explained in their presentation that they wanted to find a way to make studying less stressful and more enjoyable. Their solution was an app called “SchoolU” that resembles Trivia Crack but with a more academic focus. Students can take quizzes and submit questions to categories while teachers can moderate students’ use of the application.

According to Rae Chu, they finished half of the application on Weebly by the end of the event, and a mentor working with them had made progress on a prototype that works on the iPhone. They said they plan to continue with the project past the Hackathon.

“I think we can expand on that and we can put it on the App Store,” Rae Chu said.

Taking Back the Cafeteria

This group posed the problem of a lack of collaborative space for teachers and students. They explained that the library is frequently overcrowded and noisy, and while the cafeteria might be a good alternative space, it is often closed outside of lunch periods.

Students could relax in the cafeteria, leaving the library for quiet study, if the space were available. Since one reason the cafeteria closes is a lack of supervision, they suggested moving the School Store, currently located in room 116, to the space where the sandwich line currently is. Then, whenever staff are present and the School Store is open, people can work in the cafeteria.

Other benefits included the fact that this would be a no-cost solution, only requiring the time to move materials between rooms.

Path to Student Empowerment and Change

These students opened with an observation of how absorbed students can become in academics, standardized test scores and other stressors related to the college application process. In the midst of this stress, they said, students can fail to realize the potential they have to create meaningful change in their community.

Their solution is a four-year plan implemented in advisory. During freshman year, students pinpoint an interest or talent they have outside of academics. During sophomore year, they learn about various social issues and how they may relate to their interests.

The last two years focus on student action based on the past two years. In the example the group gave, a student interested in soccer could work to provide resources or volunteer as a coach in a town where those resources were not available.

The group emphasized its desire to empower students to “be something beyond themselves.”

Digital Feedback

This group focused on bringing technology into the classroom to make learning more engaging. Toward this goal, the group had two proposals.

The first was for teachers to follow a flipped classroom model. For homework, students would watch short, engaging videos their teachers posted and learn the material; during class, they would work in groups to solve problems. The group showed that teachers could create short quizzes on Canvas to test basic understanding and ensure that students paid attention to the videos.

One audience member asked about students who might not understand the videos and require further explanation. The group answered that these students could, instead of working on problems in class, work with the teacher and receive more individualized instruction than they would get in a whole-class lecture.

The second idea was for a special type of in-class quiz. Students would log onto the quiz on their phones and a graph of student responses could be displayed on a projector as students answered. The group said that this would be engaging for the students and teachers could quickly measure the general understanding of the class.

With these ideas, the group said students could learn collaboratively in groups with support from teachers.

Stepping into the High School Experience: The Growing Questions of the Incoming Freshmen

Three students wanted to alleviate the intimidating environment for students about to enter the high school. This group’s solution was a medium to connect 8th and 9th graders with seniors.

Through a website called slack.com, seniors could create profiles including classes they have taken and extracurriculars in which they have participated. Then, younger students could search for what they were interested in and find seniors who could answer their questions.

One audience member asked how this may differ from the junior and senior mentor system in place for underclassman advisory. The group answered that mentors often have to follow the advisory curriculum so there is not always time for them to connect with underclassmen and answer specific questions. Additionally, 8th graders do not have any junior or senior mentors.

Using a type of structured social media platform, younger students could have their questions answered and feel less anxious in the new high school environment.

BHS Incubation Lab

This group started with a similar topic to the one that started the Hackathon: Many students at the high school have great ideas with no outlet. To solve this problem, the group created a website to help students receive support for their projects.

The purpose of the site is to help students receive funding and find team members. They can post their ideas and ask for donations, suggestions and people who have relevant experience or are interested in helping.

The group created the website during the Hackathon and it is still under construction.

“If you have a project idea but need technical help, this is the place to crowdsource solutions and gain team members,” the website says. “If you already have a product but want it tested or funded, you’re in the right place. If science is not your thing, do not be afraid. All sorts of projects can be supported on BHS Incubator.”

Game-ification

This group, consisting of five self-identified gamers, searched for ways to improve learning and increase engagement through video games.

In the first of two demonstrations, they used “Minecraft,” a sandbox computer game that allows players to create things out of textured cubes. They set up a minecart on a ramp to demonstrate the conservation of energy: When the minecart rolled down the ramp, they showed the potential and kinetic energy at certain points.

One group member demonstrated how students could not only see this concept, they could also experience it by riding inside of the minecart, standing inside before activating the cart.

The second demonstration was for social studies, which the group commented was more difficult than physics to “game-ify.” For this, the group created a virtual reality field to mimic the trenches during World War I.

According to the group, both of these demonstrations could be used for Local Area Networks (LANs) so multiple students could log on to the same game. This technology could help students learn in more creative and interesting ways.

BHS Life

Seniors Yeolim Jo and Stephen Chen opened with a problem: Infotime is not very effective. Not all information is relevant to students’ interests, but important information can slip past their attention.

To solve this problem, the pair worked on a website and mobile app that would serve as a central communication platform for students. This would serve as social media for clubs, teams and other activities.

Students using the site would register, potentially linked with Canvas, and be able to create and post information pertaining to clubs.

Jo said that while Canvas fulfills this role for classes, there is no online place for students to share and discuss information related to extracurricular activities.

The group showed that each club could have its own page to spread information about upcoming events or joining the club. This would help unify the student body and allow students to be more supportive of one another.

Kate Finnerty can be contacted at [email protected]