Join us, on April 21, 2018, for a hackathon fun-packed day at the Camden County College.

South Jersey STEM & Innovation Partners (SJSIP) plans to engage the youth in the region in an initiative that will be intrinsically motivating, provide opportunities for them to use technological tools to solve a problem, and to instill in them some basic skills and an endless passion for future STEM activities. The activity needs to involve science, technology, engineering, and math, of course. But it also needs to provide hope, dreams, and the belief in future possibilities for a life that can match the learners’ definition of success. Educating youth on projected workplace trends and providing early introductory exercises that align with future training to meet these needs, will raise awareness and help them to make wise selections for their educational paths.

Utilizing the framework of the Cisco Hackathon Playbook, SJSIP will host two hackathons, one at Camden County College and one at Salem Community College. High school students, with college student mentors, will be presented with a problem to solve with teams of peers through the creation of an app. The problem must be relevant and exciting to these learners, yet simple enough that one day’s work provides a solution that leaves participants feeling stretched in conjunction with a sense of real accomplishment. In addition, participants will also be charged to think about the opportunity that this app could provide from an entrepreneurial mindset.

The hackathons will include presentations by each of the teams in a "shark tank" style, and prizes will be awarded based on set criteria to include creativity, innovation, feasibility, and teamwork.