Students Compete To Build The Best Middle School App At Hackathon (Video)
By Edward Cardenas
DETROIT (CBS Detroit) - Students from middle schools across Metro Detroit gathered Friday for the first day of the two-day hackathon at the Ford STEAM Lab in southwest Detroit.
The 100 students from five schools were teamed with a mentor from various organizations including Sisters Code, Grand Circus and #YesWECode, to brainstorm an app that would improve their educational experience and then build it with the help the professional.
Organizers stated that the event tasks students to solve a problem using technology, learn how to code and then create an app. This is important as there is expected to be one million science, technology, engineering and math openings (STEM) by 2022 and no one to fill those positions.
"The work we are doing here today is so important not just to Ford, but the entire STEM industry," said Shawn Wilson, Ford manager of multicultural engagement, of the large number of openings in the coming decade. "We need to fill that pipeline, and we need to fill it early and often."
The final step for the students on Saturday will be to present their apps, and business plan, before a "Shark Tank" style panel of judges at the Ford STEAM Lab, which was launched in October 2014 to build interest among high potential, deserving students for technology and careers in the traditional STEM fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, plus Arts for subjects such as automotive design.
The students - who are building apps to help with time management and also preventing bullying - are competing for more than $30,000 in scholarships and awards. Even those who do not win will be walking away with a prize.
Ford Motor Company Fund announced during the event Friday that it is joining with the United Auto Workers union to enable all students to attend a summer software coding class offered by Henry Ford College free of charge.
Organizers state the overall goal of the hackaton is to help students connect with professionals and uncover their passion and show them how to move from the classroom, to tech boot camps, college and eventually a career.
"It's giving them real-life experience of what real-life developers (and) engineers are doing on a daily basis in the world of business," said Kwame Anku, director of strategic development for #YesWeCode. "They are able to experience it in middle school. It's incredible."
