Teams from around the area entered the “Hackathon”, a challenging and fun experience in which students learned how to design, build and pitch an APP in a weekend. The event was held at McDaniel College.

Teams gathered on Friday, February 24 to kick off the event. The experience culminated with demos and pitches on Sunday, February 26. Teams, working together with expert mentors in this time-intensive event, involved approximately 40 students.

Carroll student Ellie Hamilton and her teammates designed an APP to promote unbiased news sources. The name of the APP was “Straight Forward.”

“Our team won!,” said Hamilton. “It was very humbling. Everyone who participated worked very hard.”

“It was a wonderful experience. I would recommend it to all graphic, coding, multimedia and business students. We had a chance to get to know what it was like to work on a team under a deadline,” said Hamilton. In addition to Hamilton, teammates included Jonathan Lingg, Joseph Ferguson, Daniel Saylor and Jacob Reed.

Hamilton plans to graduate from Carroll in 2018.

A few weeks after the event, the Mid Atlantic Gigabit Innovation Collaboratory (MAGIC) announced that the Hackathon, jointly sponsored by MAGIC, McDaniel College, Carroll Community College, and ByteLion, placed several participants into internships and part-time jobs as a result of their performance during the event.

“We loved taking part in the Carroll County Hackathon. We had a chance to meet risk-takers and technology enthusiasts. As a result of the competition, we hired two individuals and have three interns actively developing software for customers around the world,” said Terry MacGregor, President of ByteLion.

“Students, as budding professionals, need what MAGIC and the Hackathon have provided: inspiration to create, the opportunity to work with a team of talented and creative individuals, and a platform to expose their ideas and talent. MAGIC’s Hackathon delivered that and more,” said Dr. James Ball, President of Carroll Community College.



Carroll student Ellie Hamilton and winning teammates.

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