Risheek Priyadarshi | Staff Writer

In keeping with their tradition of offering high school students a platform to collaborate on projects using computer programming, Technovation club is inviting members to participate in a Hackathon hosted by Alameda County. Guest speaker Sandra Dinardi, Senior Systems Analyst at Alameda County, visited Irvington’s Norse Hall on April 15, where she introduced the Alameda County Apps Challenge.

The event will take place at James Logan High School on April 25 at 8:30 a.m. “Local residents will be challenged to create apps using county public records and those who create or conceptualize the most creative app will win,” said co-president of Technovation Anushka Walia. “They want us to use technology for the purpose of civic engagement.”

“Everyone is going to have access to open data, such as green businesses, public health data, public safety data, etc. created and kept by county agencies. We are going to look at the data, and see if we can make a mobile app that will help our community in some way,” co-president of Technovation Anjali Walia added.

The hackathon will provide Bay Area community youth an opportunity to learn to program and contribute their original ideas. Alameda County targets high school students because they believe teenagers will be able to bring unique ideas to the table.

“The Alameda County’s Information Technology Department wanted to encourage girls to participate in the upcoming App Challenge because of the whole Girls in S.T.E.M. movement,” said co-president of Technovation Club, sophomore Anjali Walia.

The team with the most creative app idea or concept will win $3,000, while second and third place will receive 1,500 and 300 respectively.

This event is open to anyone who wants to attend and experience with coding or designing apps is not necessary. However, registration is limited to 100 people and is $15.00 without student ID and $10.00 with ID. To obtain more information, you can visit their website at http://code.acgov.org/.