HACK(H)ER413

Shanice Smith, student at the NYC College of Technology.

"I am a previous attendee, so I am really excited about coming back here, creating new projects, and going to fun workshops."

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UMass Amherst had the pleasure of hosting the second-annual, all-women (cis and trans) and non-binary students' hackathon in Western Massachusetts, held in the Integrative Learning Center (ILC). For those of you who don’t know, a Hackathon is a:

“24-hour technology marathon where participants form teams to collaborate in creating unique programming or hardware projects to present to a panel of judges and win prizes.”

Corinne Greene

During this two-day event, participants involved got to attend workshops, a career fair, collaborate and network with other intelligent students, and even had the chance to receive funding for their own start-ups! What an amazing opportunity, right? Hack(h)er413 is open to any participant, whether you are a first-time programmer or an advanced level programmer. To make it even better, Hack(h)er413 is entirely student organized. For Corinne Greene, head of media outreach for Hack(h)er413, the event has certainly made an impact on her life. Her first hackathon was last year’s Hack(h)er, which led her to applying for a position on the organizing team. She recalls,“My first hackathon was Hack(h)er. I came into UMass as a comp sci [major] and it was very odd —I remember I was in one class last semester and...I’d walk in, look around and be like ‘i’m the only woman in this room.’”

Hack(h)er413 is a true example of why creating spaces like these are important, espcially dedicating a hackathon to all women (cis and trans) and non-binary students who really get to be at the forefront in this innvoative, electric environment. Corinne explains that, "having a community of just women, especially on the organizing team of just women, makes me feel very welcome in a community I feel is oversaturated with white men. It’s really important to feel that and see how different it is than our normal life and it’s a great opportunity to be able to uplift each other.”

Disha Srivastava

Director of Hack(h)er413 Disha Srivastava (economics major, class of 2022) came on to the organization team with prior knowledge as to how to run a hackathon. She worked on hackathons in high school, and when she got the email from UMass about starting a hackathon on campus, she was thrilled. Just like that, she got involved in sponsorship and helped the team raise $51,000 in their first year: “We somehow pulled it off, and then this year we increased it by over $10,000 and we have $67,500. So, we’ve come a really, really long way and I hope that we keep going.”

With 90 sponsors signed up for the career fair, Hack(h)er is certainly paving the way for women in tech. Stay updated with Hack(h)er413 by following them on Insta (hackher413)!