designLab

St. Luke's Hackathon



Zero sleep*. 100's of ideas. 1000's of lines of code.

Get ready for the 2018 Hackathon!

St. Luke's 4th annual Hackathon begins for newcomers on Friday, January 12 3:00-6:30pm with a welcome and optional, introductory workshops.

The Hackathon's official kickoff begins at 8:00am on Saturday, January 13 and will run for 30 continuous hours until 2:00pm on Sunday.

Collaborating on software & hardware projects, creating apps & devices along with food & fun is what's in store. No idea is off limits, and no prior knowledge is required. Just be willing to have a good time while learning something new. 

St. Luke's Hackathon is open to all students in grades 5-12. Registration is now closed but if you wish to be on the waitlist, please contact designLab Director Michael Mitchell at mitchellm@stlukesct.org.

Michael Diliberto—CIO, Gartner, Inc.

I didn’t see a single hack that went as it was originally planned on Friday. That is reality. Students, teachers, parents, and mentors were all forced to work through tough challenges, learning at every step. The teams never fell apart, they worked together and helped each other through the hard parts. The St Luke’s spirit of community and collaboration was on full display.”

List of 4 frequently asked questions.

  • What's a "HACKATHON"?

    The word "hackathon" is a portmanteau of the words "hack" and "marathon", where "hack" is used in the most playful and exploratory sense of bringing together two seemingly different technologies to develop an innovative solution to an interesting problem. During this event, teams of students collaborate intensively on both software and hardware projects—developing apps, fabricating products, and anything in between. Overall the event is an opportunity for students to learn something new and create something awesome.

  • I'm in! Now what?

    First, assemble a team (or you can work on an individual project) and come up with an idea for a hack. Past projects include an arcade-style Monopoly game built from scratch including a laser cut case and more than 1000 lines of code, and a remote-controlled Raspberry Pi powered robot with working webcam. Read more about Hackathon 2017 and Hackathon 2016.

  • Sounds interesting, but I've never done this before!

    If you’re new to this, or if coming up with a project idea seems overwhelming, don’t worry! Teachers, alumni, and technical experts will be available during the entire event to mentor novice or intermediate hackers. Additionally, we offer a series of workshops leading up to the Hackathon to help participants become more comfortable with the software and hardware that will be used during the event. It's all about learning something new and creating something unique.
     

  • Ready?

    Registration is now closed but if you wish to be on the waitlist, please contact designLab Director Michael Mitchell at mitchellm@stlukesct.org.

    If you are a school and are interested in bringing your own team, please contact St. Luke's designLab Director Michael Mitchell at mitchellm@stlukesct.org. 

    ALUMNI: Will you be in the area the weekend of January 12? Come join the fun as Hackathon mentors. You can come for a few hours or the whole time. Either way, it would be great if you could join us on the Hilltop for Hackathon 2018. (Friends of alumni are most welcome too.) Contact designLab Director Michael Mitchell if you would like to be a mentor.

St. Luke's Hackathon



David B. Pakman—Internet Entrepreneur & Venture Capitalist, Partner at Venrock

This event has grown up from an idea to a highly differentiating event for SLS. It embraces our values and our culture—team-based experiential learning in a non-standard environment, and under some duress of sleep-deprivation! This is like the real world.”




Laura Ruhe—Senior VP of Corporate Social Responsibility, FactSet (2017 sponsor)

We believe in the power of collaboration and learning, and have seen firsthand how valuable hackathons are to fostering creativity and innovation...We were thrilled to share our expertise with the next generation of technologists and engineers.”
St. Luke’s School is a secular private school in New Canaan, CT for grades 5 through 12 serving 25 towns in Connecticut and New York. Our exceptional academics and diverse co-educational community foster students’ intellectual and ethical development and prepare them for top colleges. St. Luke’s Center for Leadership builds the commitment to serve and the confidence to lead.