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St. Luke’s School—Hacked Again

V. Parker
With little sleep and lots of creativity, St. Luke’s concluded its 3rd Annual Hackathon, January 20-22. This event, sponsored by FactSet, continues to grow in participation and ambition. Sixty students in grades 5-12, including a team from Wooster School, worked and played around the clock to create something—a toy, a game, or solution to a problem.  “We have only one hard and fast Hackathon rule,” says St. Luke’s designLabDirector Michael Mitchell: “Take your concept and try to make it a reality in 42 hours.”

St. Luke’s Hackathon captured the attention and support of the global software company FactSet. Headquartered in Norwalk, FactSet holds its own annual hackathon for employees. “When we heard about St. Luke’s Hackathon, we knew it would be a great fit,” said Laura Ruhe, FactSet Senior Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility. “We believe in the power of collaboration and learning, and have seen firsthand how valuable hackathons are to fostering creativity and innovation. We are thrilled to share our expertise with the next generation of technologists and engineers.”

Five FactSet employees were on hand to give feedback and help judge the projects.  John Cunningham, Assistant Professor of Statistics at Columbia University (and uncle to Chris Briggs ‘24 and Jack Briggs ‘21) served as a guest judge. Four St. Luke’s alumni were also mentors and judges: Andrew Laub ‘15 (Dartmouth), Tyler Klein ‘15 (Tufts University) , Steven Gerasimoff ‘13 (MIT), and Andrew Sudano ‘13 (RPI). Andrew’s RPI roommate, Brian Shoyer, also participated.

The mentors and judges were incredibly impressed with the design, creativity, and technical effort that went into the work,” said Mitchell.  “More importantly, the students worked through mishaps and failures and demonstrated grit and resilience. That was the spirit of the Hackathon.”


Each of the teams listed below were awarded gift cards to Adafruit Industries.

Outstanding Projects:
  • Fidget Spinner: Chris Briggs ‘21, Scott Fitzgibbon ‘21, Will Mathus ‘24, Bobby Orlich ‘24, and Andrew Parsons ‘23
  • Unity Game: Demetrius Nekos (Wooster)
  • Ball Throwing Catapult: Nicole Ayoub ‘19, Katherine Holmes ‘23, and Claire Watson ‘21
  • Robotic Arm: Brittany Barton ‘17
Outstanding Hacks:
  • Pong Game: Logan Diliberto ‘18 and Jacqui Holzberger ‘18
  • Levitating Water Drops: Landon Bachman ‘20, Jamie Ullman ‘20, and Marco Volpitta ‘20
  • Door Security System: Vincent DiTeodoro ‘21, Cameron Hill ‘21, and Jonathan Hobson ‘21

Honorable Mentions:
  • The Happy Gondola: Jack Silverman ‘23
  • Phoebe Robot: Kendall Bayliss ‘22, Sasha Bakhramov ‘22, Kate Ellis ‘22, and Calvin Strothenke ‘22

FactSet delivers the world’s best insight and information to investment professionals through superior analytics, service, content, and technology. More than 66,000 users make smarter investment decisions with FactSet's desktop analytics, mobile applications, and comprehensive data feeds.

 



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St. Luke’s School is a secular (non-religious), private school in New Canaan, CT for grades 5 through 12 serving over 35 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.