Jenna Bacon, Campus Carrier arts and living editor

Ali Luciani, Campus Carrier asst. arts and living editor

On Friday, Feb. 20, students gathered in the Hackberry Lab and hosted their monthly Hackathon. For four hours, participants transformed ideas into their own creations, from sewn garments and baked goods to coded programs and mechanical builds. Hackathon is open to any Berry student, regardless of experience level. Participants are invited to create anything and present it at the end of the night. Projects are then voted on by the audience, while a panel of faculty and alumni evaluates them using a rubric. Prize range from beginner toolkits and craft kits to tech-inspired items like Bluetooth speakers and dorm décor. 

Chris Whitmire, lecturer of Creative Technologies, describes Hackberry as both a space and a community. 

“We have all kinds of machines and tools that students can use,” Whitmire said. “It’s also a community because not only do we physically just have tools here, but we have lots of students, including student lab assistants.”

The lab serves as the hub for the Creative Technologies major, though it is open to all students Monday through Friday from 6pm to midnight. Student lab assistants manage the space during that time.

Caty Stasiak, a communications major with a minor in creative technologies and a second-year lab assistant, shared that part of her job is to be familiar with the different equipment and software in the Hackberry Lab. This allows her to help students learn new skills and troubleshoot projects.

“This place would not run without those lab assistants,” Whitmire said. “They do so much to support our students, but also just keep the space running, like they’re awesome.” 

For Creative Technologies majors and minors, Hackathon is also a one-credit course. While the event itself is open to everyone, enrolled students meet beforehand to brainstorm ideas and discuss concepts like rapid prototyping.

Whitmire said that the class focuses less on technical skills and more on mindset.

“When you’re making a project in 4 hours, especially when it’s something you haven’t done before, things are going to mess up,” Whitmire said. “I teach them how to best prepare yourself to solve any potential issue because you can’t know what those are going to be, but you have this mindset of, ‘Cool, I’m going to kind of prepare what I can and then when things pop up that I don’t know how to handle them’”.

Rather than panicking when something goes wrong, students are encouraged to pivot and adapt. That flexibility often becomes the most valuable takeaway. Stasiak shared how participating in Hackathon has strengthened her ability to push through problems that arise. 

“I’ve had so many projects go wrong during Hackathon,” Stasiak said. “And so you just kind of have to pivot in the moment and say, ‘Okay, this isn’t going to work, let’s do this instead.’”

Stasiak has completed 12 Hackathons. She said the experience strengthened both her technical and professional skills. 

“At the end of every Hackathon, you have to present your project to a bunch of people that come and attend and then also like a panel of judges and some people on Zoom within two minutes,” Stasiak said. “So, it’s taught me how to get my point across but also tell a story.”

Junior creative technologies major and Hackberry lab director Asiel Castillo has worked many hackathons where he assisted students and ensured everything ran smoothly. He shared what he enjoyed about those experiences. 

“I enjoyed coming in and just seeing everyone working on things, being busy, the lab being busy,” Castillo said. “That’s when you get into a nice flow state of helping everyone and doing all the fun stuff like helping them create and teaching them all the new things.”

 For Castillo, Hackathon represents both experimentation and fun. After spending semesters helping run the event as a lab director, he recently returned as a participant.

During a previous Hackathon, Castillo built a pneumatic air cannon and sewed small lab assistant dolls to launch from it. His project won the competition.

“It just goes to show that it’s like you’re meant to have fun with it,” Castillo said. “People do a lot of serious things, and that’s fine, but having fun with a tech, doing all the stuff, and experimenting. That’s what was really fun.”

According to Castillo, Hackathon projects do not have to be super complex. Student participants have presented songs, choreographed dances, and even baked goods.

 “Hackathons really are just about creating anything, anything at all,” Castillo said. “You can just do whatever you want.”

The next Hackathon will take place on March 20. It’s a great opportunity for students to learn new skills and get creative.