Students crowd around computers with eyes glued to the screens. The sound of murmur and quiet whispers flows through the room, as ideas are developed even further when bounced off each teammate.

Hackathons, also known as hack days, hack fests or codefests, are events in which teams from various schools use limited time to develop software projects such as applications and websites.

Some students think of ideas for projects before the actual event, and they implement and develop them further during the hackathon. However, some choose to network and start ideas at the event rather than before it.

“We started thinking of ideas beforehand, but I know a lot of people that just go individually, and they meet new people and then think of an idea at the event,” hackathon attendee Kedar Gupta (11) said. “So, I created this app where you take a picture of your ingredients and it tells you what you can make. Since I’m always home alone and I don’t know what to cook, I was thinking how do I solve that problem?”

Hackathon proposals can incorporate student creativity to improve a certain aspect of a community.

“We did a copyright infringement thing; we [took] any music or audio file, and we compared it with a list of known songs,” hackathon participant Sumer Kohli (10) said. “You can train it to a song database like YouTube or something to identify if you’ve used any part of other songs in your video.”

Although Harker does not have an official club for hackathon participants, the majority of students that attend are also members of Programming club, according to computer science teacher Anu Datar.

“I don’t believe that any development that occurs in haste is essentially good; sometimes that means a quick thought process, analyzing and developing,” Datar said. “Hackathons [are] more like you start jumping into things and start developing, but sometimes, that developing does make you do intense thinking, which makes a big difference.”

Most hackathon participants attend as many as four or five a year, according to Kedar. Past hackathons in the Bay Area have been held at the Microsoft headquarters as well as high school campuses. Most hackathons target students at the collegiate level, decreasing the opportunities for high school students to attend.

Students who have experience building and programming at hackathons have found them worthwhile experiences.

“I really like the entire experience of going there and spending the day making something,” hackathon attendee Parth Pendurkar (11) said. “Then, when I’m done with it at the end, I have a finished product that I can look at.”

Students enjoy the teamwork element of the event as well.

“I definitely learn a lot, even from new teammates,” Kedar said. “Also, it’s nice to see how other people work, in stressful situations especially.”

The next hackathon for high school students is the Hackathon for Entrepreneurs 4.2, which will be held in San Francisco tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Gallery • 4 Photos

Courtesy of Major League Hacking

Kedar Gupta (11) works with his team at a recent Hackathon. Some Harker students interested in developing software attend Hackathons across the Bay Area.

This piece was originally published in the pages of the Winged Post on May 4, 2016.