Approximately 100 students competed in each of the hackathons over the years and were exposed to creative thinking and exposure to major companies, start-ups, and VCs. This year the winning team included Baltimore's Benji Tusk, with teammates Zev Tovbin, Eyal Schachter, Yishac Brody, and Yehuda Gurovich.

"We love to see our students tackle problems and develop tech solutions in a short amount of time. They come to realize that they've got what it takes to look at the world and help improve it, and not to give up until they design a workable solution they can be proud of," explained Orlee Guttman Director of Strategic Partnerships at Lev Academic Center, JCT.

During campus hackathons, students from the engineering, business, and accounting programs join to create technology products and provide solutions to challenges presented by children’s hospitals, tech firms, retail and commercial sites, organizations working on technology for people with disabilities, and more. 

Students practice working in interdisciplinary teams, improve upon or learn technology skills, and gain confidence in developing products for the non-profit sector and the high-tech industry. 

The goal of a hackathon is to create a potentially marketable software or hardware product by the end of the event. 

"Unfortunately, I couldn't participate in this year's hackathon as I'm out of the country, but I was the leader of my team in last year's hackathon," shared Eliyahu Masinter from Baltimore. "Although we didn't win last year's hackathon, we thought we had a great product and after some market research, we decided to start a business, ScheduLearn, in December of 2022. 

"In short, the problem that ScheduLearn solves is that school administrators or principals can spend their entire summer trying to put together the following year's schedule often ending up with a schedule that few are happy with. Teachers want to work certain days and times, certain classes must be taught in the morning/afternoon, etc. There are a lot of requirements to meet and most schools do the scheduling manually. Our software allows schools to enter all of their preferences into our website and it will then generate an optimal schedule."

They created a short video demonstrating the software.

After testing the program with schools in the Southern Hemisphere (South Africa and Australia primarily) because they start their school year in January, they officially launched the product two months ago and are working with about ten schools. 

Further, Masinter added, they "joined the Accelerator program, Edge, through JCT's entrepreneurship center which has helped. As a team of computer science students, we lacked certain business skills, and their program helped us develop a business plan and marketing strategies, providing an entrepreneurial atmosphere with their premises on campus which we use frequently." 

Benji Tusk described the team's award-winner project to BJL, "Our project is CampAIgn Matcher. We help people running fundraising campaigns by researching each person automatically so you can identify who is more likely to contribute to your campaign, and also so you can have a discussion more relevant to who they are, instead of what you need from them. (See last photo below.)

"I’m honored to have won the JCT Hackathon with my team. The Hackathon was a rigorous test of teamwork, leadership, coordination, work ethic, and technical skills. I hope that my participation and success inspire others to push themselves past what they think is possible and achieve new heights."

Another English-speaking hacker told BJL, that he had studied in Yeshiva HaKotel, and gone back to the US, where he studied at Cooper Union College. He felt uncomfortable being Jewish there and though his family is in the US, he returned to Israel to attend JCT. 

Professor Chaim Sukenik, JCT President, added that “the entrepreneurial spirit of the hackathon is infectious. We have started teaching principles of entrepreneurship to our students (not just those with ideas for start-ups). Encouraging students to be creative, to not hesitate to break new ground and to learn new tools and concepts (under pressure), carries with it rewards that go way beyond any one contest or competition.”

Year after year mentors return to help the hackers with their projects.  One mentor mentioned it is a valuable experience, not only to give advice but also a good way to connect with the students out of the classroom.

Where else would a Hackathon have kosher food, not be held over Shabbat, and have minyanim as part of the official schedule?