The Code Jam Hackathon — The Crescent

By: Benny Schorie

Photographed by: Yolanda Diaz

Living in the twenty-first century means technology has become integrated into everyday life. Every industry has been impacted by this boom. While there are drawbacks, the technological revolution has provided humankind with a new way to solve problems, and this is the purpose of computer science.

The George Fox University (GFU) computer science department hosted its hackathon, Code Jam, from Apr. 1-3 to uplift students of all majors in their love for the science. First-place winner Trey Moen said, “the goal of Code Jam is to have fun, learn new technologies in the computer science space, work with new tools you may not have worked with before, and also collaborate on a team and build an application together.” Second-place winner Daniel Beachy also participated for “resume-building reasons and just [to get] experience.”

The Code Jam event asked participants to create an application based on a predetermined set of themes. The overall premise was “attempting to build an entire concept and application from the seedling of an idea and seeing that out to reality,” said Moen. The second-place team created SPAC, a program to find the shortest path around campus, based on the theme of accessibility. The programs were judged based on “what idea you started with and how far [you got] it to reality,” according to Moen. The competition also gave contestants an opportunity to work with “different tools and frameworks that are important for the industry,” said Beachy.

Daniel Beachy photographed by Yolanda Diaz.

Even outside of Code Jam, computer science “enables us to solve problems, use our brains, and figure out real-world solutions,” said Beachy. GFU students are capable of innovating the next generation of technologies, and events like Code Jam give them the opportunity to develop practical skills while having fun.