On April 20th, 2024, Mountain House High School hosted MountainHacks, a dynamic and highly anticipated hackathon that marked the second event where Code for Cause partnered to introduce a dedicated track. This high school-only event saw over 150 enthusiastic participants come together for a full day of coding, collaboration, and creativity. The hackathon, organized by the students of Mountain House High School, ran smoothly and efficiently, demonstrating their impressive organizational skills despite it being only their second year. With over $13,000 in prizes, a plethora of food, swag, workshops, and other incentives, the 14-hour event was a remarkable success.
For MountainHacks, we partnered with Global Youth Security, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering youth to make a difference in their communities. The Code for Cause Track at this event tasked participants with creating an app to locate local food banks for volunteer opportunities. The project required several key features: a comprehensive and accessible list of local food banks and pantries, a notification system to remind users of their upcoming volunteering commitments, gamification elements such as leaderboards to encourage and motivate volunteers, and additional features that participants deemed beneficial.
MountainHacks was a hub of innovation, with participants presenting numerous creative and impactful projects. The Code for Cause Track saw impressive entries, with the winning project titled OpenHarvest. Created by Oliver Ma, Matthew Lkhagvasuren, Zack Gozelski, and James Hughes, OpenHarvest stood out for its robust functionality and user-friendly design.
Following the hackathon, the team behind OpenHarvest collaborated with Global Youth Security and Code for Cause through several meetings to further develop and implement the project. Today, OpenHarvest is actively used to manage volunteering efforts at food banks, featuring seamless calendar integration and other enhancements that facilitate and encourage community involvement.
The judging panel for MountainHacks was composed solely of MountainHacks' panel of experts, who were thoroughly impressed by the creativity and technical prowess displayed by all participants. Their feedback was invaluable in refining the projects and inspiring the young hackers to pursue further innovations in tech for social good.
MountainHacks reinforced the efficacy of our partnership model, allowing us to continue our mission of driving social good through technology without the logistical burden of organizing large-scale events. As we move forward, we are excited to continue this model, partnering with more hackathons and nonprofits, and empowering more hackers to make a difference. Together, we can achieve even greater things and continue to drive meaningful change in our communities.