The ‘20 and ‘21 EDI fellows performed a hackathon today to prepare for a Middle School advisee competition next school year. The fellows were split into three groups, each providing several potential challenges for the competition and eventually each group chose one challenge to test. The final challenges included constructing an aluminum boat, transporting water from one cup to another, and halting the momentum of an orange rolling down a ramp. The teams then journeyed to Target to purchase the materials necessary for testing their challenges. Once we returned each group was randomly assigned a challenge and given 30 minutes to complete it. The groups then reconvened and reflected on how their testing went, offering insights and advice for improving the challenge they were assigned.

Later in the evening we went out to dinner at a place called Tied Brewery where we had the privilege of dining with a software engineer from LinkedIn named Baron Roberts. Mr. Roberts entertained us with stories from a major Silicon Valley company as we feasted on burgers and wings – a truly American dinner. Afterwards, we all went out for ice cream and returned to the hotel, educated and exhausted.