TeenTech Washington Techathon 2016

On October 14th,  2016, TeenTech Washington will hold its second annual Techathon. The event is open to students of grades 6 though 12 in the Puget Sound area and beyond. The goal of the Techathon is to engage students in civic problem solving through the use of modern technology. With a variety of civic prompts and a mulititude of subjects, the TeenTech Washington Techathon offers a unique experience for everyone.

The Techathon provides an opportunity for innovative youths to work in teams to create tech solutions for real-world problems. We call it a Techathon, because it is open to any use of modern technology you can imagine. This could be programming, circuitry, 3D modeling, photo editing, or anything else.

Last year’s Techathon took place at The Bush School, you can read about the winning projects here.

What is a Techathon?

As far as we know, our Techathon is the first of its name, so you may be wondering exactly what it is. It is based on the premise of the civic hackathon, but it might be easier to just walk through it all:

What is a Hackathon?

A traditional hackthon is an invention marathon, a collaborative software and/or hardware development competition, where teams of hackers work for multiple days to create a prototype or shippable product.

What is a Civic Hackathon?

A civic hackathon is a hackathon where the goal is to solve civic issues. Teams work together within a time limit to create a software or hardware solution to one of multiple prompts provided  by the organizers.

What is our Techathon?

The TeenTech Washington Techathon invites middle and high school students to work on any project they like that makes use of modern technology. This could be programming, circuitry, 3D modeling, photo editing, or anything else. Participants are encouraged answer one of five civic prompts, and if they do, they have the option to have their project judged with the possibility of moving on to the TeenTech World Pitch.