During the weekend of May 20 - 21st, over 250 high school students from all across New England gathered in the Warrior Ice Arena in Boston. Surprisingly, this was not for sports-- equipped with laptops, chargers, and sleeping bags, the students spent over 24 hours learning to code and building projects ranging from games and phone apps to hardware devices. The event even included everything from free food to augmented reality headsets and other hardware for participants to build with, allowing them to completely focus on their projects. MetroHacks provided a unique opportunity to explore new technology at no cost.

 

“You created your own project. It’s yours - you can bring it home, you can show your project to other people, you can always constantly keep on fixing it. It wasn’t a question of winning or losing, it was - what have you created?” - Tina Gao, Lexington High School ‘17

MetroHacks was founded in 2015 by eight Massachusetts high school students who wanted to give all high schoolers the chance to pursue and cultivate their passions for computer science and technology. It is an annual “hackathon” - an event and competition focused on coding and technology. Teams presented a device to save diabetics from going into hyperglycemic shock, a low cost solution to bluetooth pairing with multiple devices, and a platform to help those with Asperger's Syndrome better communicate their feelings.

Professional developers, including engineers from Microsoft and Amazon, volunteered their weekends to mentor participants, who also attended workshops ranging from introductory web design to machine learning. Speakers inspired the students through tales of personal experiences and visions of the future of technology, including HubSpot VP of Engineering, Eric Richard, Acquia Chief Product Officer, Christopher Stone, and Tom Ebling, CEO of Demandware, later acquired by Salesforce. The notable Woman in Tech speaker was Netia McCray, founder of Mbadika, a non-profit that enables students in developing countries to implement their ideas and find solutions to problems in their communities through science and engineering. 

The students themselves came from a huge variety of backgrounds. Some were already award-winning young programmers. Others had never written a line of code in their lives and learned a new language overnight in order to complete a project. Everyone took something home from the hackathon - from hundreds of dollars in cash prizes to free sweatshirts or a newfound interest in coding. “When I came to MetroHacks I have zero coding experience at all [but] all the people I asked were really genuinely helpful,” reflected Lexington High School senior Sanjna Krishnan after attending. “Just based on the experience I had ... I think I’m definitely gonna end up using my double major in computer science, instead of what I had previously planned.”

 

The third annual MetroHacks will take place in the Spring of 2018, and will be open to all high school students. Stay tuned!