designLab

St. Luke's Hackathon


January 19 - 20


"Hackathon" is a portmanteau of the words "hack" and "marathon," where "hack" is used in the most playful and exploratory sense of fusing different technologies to develop an innovative solution to an interesting problem. During St. Luke’s Hackathon, teams of students will collaborate intensively on both software and hardware projects to solve a real-world problem. This year, we are pleased to partner with our new sponsor Mustard, a local company providing a modern, low-cost transportation solution for schools.








List of 2 frequently asked questions.

  • More about our sponsor:

    Mustard was founded by Alberto Escarlate, who recognized a need to reimagine school transportation. Escarlate elaborates on the need that inspired the invention of Mustard:

    What was the transportaton problem we had to solve? Well, it’s your parents. They’re not the problem, but they have a couple of problems: T    hey are crazy busy. They have places to go and people to see - work, supporting the parents’ association, being involved in charities, helping your grandparents and family - all while getting you to and from school and all your activities. They also worry about you when they leave you at a bus stop or use a car service. Did you get to school on time? Was the driver kind to you?

    Parents are busy and they worry so Mustard came up with an idea to give them more control over their lives and to help them worry less. We thought, Why couldn’t you equip school vans or buses with tech that would let you and your parents know where the bus is, know when it will get there, know when you got on and off? They’d feel so much better, right? And so would you. 

    Mustard consists of engineers and designers, and we started to write apps for parents, students, schools and drivers, and we got hardware that would track vans and buses, and hardware that would know when students climbed onboard and off. Voila! We developed an innovative solution: vans linked to an app that keeps everyone up to date on where the vans are, when they’ll arrive and where each student is. Now, we’re launching it at your school.

  • 2019 Hackathon theme: 

    For the 2019 Hackathon, St. Luke’s is partnering with Mustard to challenge participants to reimagine community transportation.  So what does that mean? Each student/student team must be working on a solution to a real-world problem related to community transportation. If you have any questions, just ask Mr. Mitchell!

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. For more information, please contact designLab Director Michael Mitchell at mitchellm@stlukesct.org. 

  • 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.”

  • 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.”


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.