GeauxHack is the first-ever hackathon at Louisiana State University (LSU) in Baton Rouge. The 24 hour creative coding marathon is scheduled for August 30-31, 2014, and registration is now open.
Once organizer Howard Wang attended his first hackathon last year, he was hooked. “It was everything I hoped for and more,” he explained. “It reminded me why I wanted to get into computer science in the first place.” It also promoted Wang to promote the hackathon culture in the south and show students what they can accomplish.
“We wanted to organize a student hackathon here because unlike competitive programming competitions, hackathons are more product oriented,” said co-organizer Samantha. “Being students ourselves, we feel that hackathons help computer science students into developers.”
Samantha also noted that hackathons are more about community than rivalry, and the peer-to-peer interaction helps participants create a network of their own across many universities, as well as connections to potential future employers or colleagues.
GeauxHack is expecting at least 150 registered by the start date in a month from today.
GeauxHack already has host support from the LSU STEM Talent Expansion Program and the LSU Computer Science department. Organizers hope that others will help make the hackathon happen through the available sponsorships.
Major League Hacking (MLH), which powers the official student hackathon league, is also helping the team on the ground at LSU with GeauxHack, and the competition will play by their rules. All currently enrolled college or university students are eligible to compete and some high school students as well on a case-by-case basis. GeauxHack is the first MLH sanctioned hackathon to take place in Louisiana.
For more information or to register, visit geauxhack.com.