About the challenge

Welcome to the LaGuardia Hackathon! 

This is an exciting opportunity for beginners to learn how to code and build innovative projects. Our hackathon is open to students of all levels, so whether you're a seasoned programmer or just starting, we encourage you to participate.

Join us in building tech-driven solutions that revolutionize how students navigate their career journey on campus.

Your mission: Create innovative tools that enhance campus communication, streamline access to career services, and connect students with meaningful opportunities — from internships and mentors to jobs and professional development resources.

Challenge Focus:

• Improve career readiness

• Boost student engagement

• Expand access to career support and development

Get started

Here's what you need to do:

1. Register for the event: Sign up using our online registration form to let us know you're interested in participating.

2. Form a team: You can register as a team or join a team.

3. Attend the pre-event workshops: We are hosting different workshops that will prepare you for the hackathon even better!

4. Join Slack Group: Stay connected with your team, program staff, and mentors as you build out your project

1. Click to join Slack group

5. Brainstorm ideas: Start thinking about the problem you want to solve and the project you want to build. You can also attend our ideation workshop to get help generating ideas.

6. Build your project: Use your programming skills to build a prototype of your project. If you are designing your project, provide full design layout and function details of what you are designing. Don't worry if you're a beginner - our mentors will be available to help you every step of the way.

• Presentation Overall Delivery (10 point)
  ▪ Does the presentation include a thoughtful and well-designed google slides presentation? ▪ Is the delivery clear, concise and professional? ▪ Does the delivery feel rehearsed and polished
• Presentation - 2. Articulation of Team Member Roles (5 point)
  ▪ Is the role of each team member clearly described / demonstrated? ▪ Did the team take advantage of each member’s strengths to distribute the project work load in an effective and equitable way?
• Presentation - 3. Elevator Pitch (15 point)
  ▪ Does the elevator pitch effectively answer the “big picture” questions: Who would be interested in this? Why should people use your app? ▪ Does the elevator pitch clearly articulate a critical question or intervention?
• Presentation - 4. Demonstration (5 point)
  ▪ Is each step of the demonstration / walkthrough clearly linked to the “big picture” questions above?
• App Prototype - 1. Visual and UX Design (30 point)
  ▪ To what extent are the following design elements used effectively to create a user experience that is intuitive, pleasurable and thematically aligned with the project’s goals? ▪ Color ▪ Typography ▪ Layout and composition ▪ UI Elements ▪ Media Assets
• App Prototype - 2. Content (30 point)
  ▪ Has the group responded to feedback from the instructor? ▪ Does the app create a compelling UI that will engage users? ▪ Is the app’s critical question/intervention integrated into the UX?