AnnaSophia Wolniewicz got some coding help from a mentor Sunday afternoon to improve the look of a new website.
The website was one that she and her friends had created less than 24 hours ago as part of the inaugural T9Hacks, a grassroots, women-centered hack-a-thon held over the weekend at the ATLAS Institute at CU-Boulder.
Wolniewicz, a CU computer science freshman, and the others in her team created a website that shows current weather conditions based on the user’s location, then recommends the type of jacket — or no jacket— that’s needed.
“I’m learning new (coding) languages,” she said. “It’s really fun.”
Teammate Katherine Gray, also a freshman computer science major, said she appreciated the opportunity to learn from tech mentors.
“They have a lot of ideas,” she said. “It’s fun to see so many people interested in coding. I’ve learned a lot.”
CU doctorate student Brittany Ann Kos came up with the idea for the T9 hack-a-thon, named after the Title IX legislation prohibiting gender discrimination in education.
About 65 percent of participants in the 24-hour event were women, compared to about 15 percent at a typical hack-a-thon. The goal was to hack — design, build or create — technology, art and media.
“We give you 24 hours and the space to do something cool,” Kos said. “It’s completely open. They’re only limited by their imagination.”
The free event, open to college students, was sponsored by more than a dozen companies, including Twitter, VictorOps, ThinkTopic, Workday and Google. Community mentors volunteered their time to provide tech support.
“Hack-a-thons are really motivating,” said mentor Andrea Sassu, a CU alum who works at Seagate. “It’s very energizing.”
To appeal to students with a wide range of abilities, especially beginners, the final creations weren’t judged. Instead, there were mini-challenges throughout the event, while the groups that made it to the end presented their projects science-fair style.
“We didn’t want people to be intimidated,” Kos said. “We were just excited that people were here.”
Dhwani Khatter, a computer science freshman at CU, said she grew up in a family of computer science nerds and “now, I’m one myself.”
The hack-a-thon, she said, was an opportunity to spend time with others in the computer science community.
Plus, she said, “I love hacking.”
Her team was working on creating a virtual social media community that could be used for everything from business meetings to gaming.
First-time “hackers” Natalie Carson, a CU computer science freshman, CU advertising senior Dalila Krouchkova and University of Texas computer science junior Breanna Murray met at the event.
They created a website designed to pair girls with STEM — science, technology, engineering and math — mentors and highlight current scholarship and bootcamp opportunities.
“When we were younger, we were really underexposed to STEM,” Krouchkova said. “We want to create a sense of community with our website.”
Carson said she signed up for the hack-a-thon because she wanted learn from people with more experience.
“It was very appealing that it was geared toward women,” she said.
Added Murray, “you’re not going to learn as much sitting in class as you are here.”
Amy Bounds: 303-473-1341, boundsa@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/boundsa
