Boston University’s Global App Initiative brought back the Global Appathon, a 12-hour mobile-themed hackathon, Saturday. Hackathons are collaborative events that bring together project managers, designers and developers together to create projects during a structured amount of time. Many, including the Appathon hosted at the Engineering Product Innovation Center, provide prizes in a variety of categories at the end of the event.
Global App Initiative, a BU student organization that develops mobile applications for nonprofits and socially driven causes, hosted its first mobile-themed hackathon in April 2014. Founded in 2012 by Habib Khan, a 2014 College of Engineering graduate, GAI allows members of the club to learn mobile development through educational support from the club’s experienced student instructors. Currently, GAI has 12 teams developing apps for various nonprofits across the country.
“Even with the change in leadership last year, my team and I have done an amazing job in continuing the growth and opportunities present to members in our club,” said Santiago Beltran, an ENG sophomore and GAI president, in an email. “We pride ourselves in that every single app is made from scratch for that nonprofit and for their purposes.”
The Appathon corresponds with GAI’s goals to get more students involved in development, said Patrick Crawford, an ENG senior and GAI National Director.
“What’s special about the Appathon is that it’s really trying to get more and more people into development,” he said. “While experienced users can have a lot of fun and make cool stuff during this time, we also give options for people who have never developed.”
Participants at the Appathon had access to a huge range of resources, including a Help Bar with members of the GAI Education Committee, a group within GAI that organizes events and lectures, hosts workshops and provides office hours for club members. Also at the Help Bar were mentors from the Appathon’s sponsors, including General Electric and Raizlabs. Startups FirmPlay and Klio Health joined GE and Raizlabs in judging projects at the end of the Appathon.
Chris Egeberg, who runs the Edison Engineering Program at GE, a program that supports early software engineering talent, came to help out at the Appathon for the second year in a row. Egeberg said he originally became involved with GAI two years ago when he met Khan at a career fair and subsequently hired him, first as an intern and then full-time.
“The event is a really great opportunity to not only build your technical expertise and learn something new, but a great way to meet people and also do something that matters,” he said. “That really goes in line with a lot of GE beliefs as well … So it’s just something that we’re really excited about.”
Some students arrived at the event already working on an app. Others came with an idea for a project, and some came without an idea but with a willingness to learn and help out. Once there, students formed teams and got to work.
Students also had the option of joining a team to work for one of GAI’s nonprofits. Five nonprofits were present at the event, including FeelGood, an organization working to end extreme poverty. Every dollar students raise from selling grilled cheese sandwiches is invested in the organization’s Commitment 2030 Fund.
Peter LaFontaine, a College of Arts and Sciences senior, signed up to develop an app for FeelGood at the beginning of the year through GAI.
“We’re trying to build an app that allows you to order sandwiches and notifies you to pick it up,” LaFontaine said. FeelGood at BU currently sells their sandwiches at Warren Towers’ Late Night Kitchen.
Some students, like ENG senior Mark Barrasso, worked on independent projects instead. Barrasso’s goal was to develop an app that provides a platform where BU and other local students can sell textbooks and other items.
“I think it’s awesome,” he said. “This needs to happen more often.”
At the end of the night, the groups’ projects were judged and awarded prizes in four categories. “Pocket Converter” won Best Overall App, “PriveTime” won Best UX Design, “Trip App” won Best New App and “BU Community App” won Best Improved App.
The return of so many participants from the first Appathon bodes well for the future of the Appathon. GAI hopes to expand in the future to reach more of the BU community and beyond.
“We want to involve more BU students. We want to bring out there that the opportunity exists,” Beltran said. “Even if you have no experience [in software development], you can sit down and take that time to start learning.”
Great interaction between GE volunteers and college students ! I work within GE Hispanic Forum and sponsor 5 universities in Texas interacting with student challenging them to develop leadership potential in themselves. The work done at BU is exciting, innovative, interactive and futuristic because the skill set and experience that is acquired at these events are life changing, career orientating and everlasting resource. I love it…. I will try to take away from the idea and tailor it to I am doing on my end. Thank you for posting/sharing!