AthenaHacks 2021 Wrap-Up

AthenaHacks 2021 is officially wrapped up (well, almost official — we’re still getting you your swag :) )! Although this was our first-ever virtual hackathon, everyone’s enthusiasm and excitement made this event better than ever. Thank you to every hacker, mentor, sponsor, and judge!

So you can get the big picture of the event, here’s a breakdown of what you might have missed while you were busy doing amazing work:

By the Numbers

Teams: 127

Hackers: 300+

Mentors: 27

Schools represented:

Top 3 Schools: USC, Simon Fraser University, University of Waterloo

Project submissions: 79 (representing 281 hackers)

Keynote

We were thrilled to welcome Sarvenaz Myslicki as this year’s keynote speaker! She shared a story about overcoming doubts about her abilities and background in her first-ever computer science class in college. Although new situations (from hackathons to jobs) can be intimidating, the best way to tackle it is to jump in and get to work, ready to learn from your mistakes.

Having Fun While Hacking

You didn’t think we were just building the next big thing all weekend, did you?

Hackers were inspired by Sarvenaz’s encouraging message of perseverance, self-belief, and beating imposter syndrome:

There was a lot happening throughout the day, too; take a look at some workshop highlights! We had a total of 8 workshops, all with inspiring advice and hard-to-find tips for the tech industry. Take a look below at pictures from events with Microsoft, Zynga, and Repl.it:

Plus, a special shout-out to this event’s mentors; with your generosity, more and more hackers felt encouraged and able to complete their project submissions. There were plenty of hackers thanking you on- and off-line too!

Winners

Congratulations to the projects that really caught judges’ eyes! Way to go!

Iago — Best Overall, Best Hardware Hack Sponsored by Digi-Key — MLH

Penny’s Programming Adventure — Athena’s Favorite

EyeScream — Best Beginner Hack

Tastee — Pinnacle Hack Winner at AthenaHacks

rythMind — Best Use of Azure for Social Good Sponsored by Microsoft

Astoria and the Mysterious Realm — Best Entertainment Hack Sponsored by Disney

CosmoCare — Best Mobile Hack Sponsored by Zynga

PeerEnergy — Best Hack In Finance Sponsored by Bloomberg

V Tour — Best AR/VR Application Using the echoAR Platform, Sponsored by echoAR

Beyond the Horizon Line — Best Domain Registered with Domain.com — MLH

FEM: Future Emerging Medicine — Best Use of Google Cloud — MLH

Training Liasion — Best Hardware Hack Sponsored by Digi-Key — MLH

Women Empowering Stock Portfolio — Best Use of CockroachDB — MLH

And finally . . .

This isn’t good-bye; we’ll see you again in 2022! Have fun changing the world one line of code at the time until then. ❤