Java held its first ever Hack-a-thon event on April 9 with 16 students attending from different Chandler schools. The Hack-a-thon was a 12 hour event held by the Computer Programmers United (CPU) Club that provided students with an opportunity to compete in groups to create an app.

Groups of students worked with State Farm mentors to develop a functioning app that fit into the theme of “Cool for School”. At the end of the competition, awards were given out for best overall app and crowd favorite, and students were awarded with gift cards, movie tickets and merchandise.

The event gave students a chance to use special coding software with the help of State Farm’s technology experts. “The teams began with no knowledge of the developer tools they used and learned to use them and create apps and games,” explained CPU president Maurice Ajluni.

Students were able to utilize these State Farm experts throughout the day to create a working prototype of an application. “The mentors guided the student through their development studios and how to organize their code,” Ajluni said.

Ajluni was part of the group that created an app called ‘Class Zone’, and took the prize for best app overall. Senior Dustin Howarth, who also worked on the app, explained the prototype app allowed students to easily manage their classes and review their schedule. “[The app] featured a community page so students could communicate with one another,” he added.

Along with the ‘Class Zone’ app, students created school-related games and applications that could function like a working app. The students’ apps were judged by guest teachers and a developer from Intel.

The competition was held with the intent that it would help the Chandler Java program grow and unite.

“There’s not a lot of high school Java competitions,” Club sponsor Lindsey Tillman explained. “Our club was trying to get a lot of the coders from the other schools to come together.”

Ajluni explained that the event was “a blast and great experience to meet new people and learn about software development.”

Many students enjoyed the event as it brought together the program and provided an in-depth learning experience in the field.

“I would definitely do the Hack-a-thon again,” Howarth said. “It helped introduce me to app development and industry professionals.”  
Java plans to host another Hack-a-thon event in the future, with the hope that the program and competition will continue to grow.