Computer Science Students Host Inaugural Hack-a-thon in New Center

The Hack Squared team, which includes Phoebe, Meredith Lee ’25, Lily Adams ’25, Cole Byrne ’25, Rafael Castro ’25, Will Dupont ’25 and Gabriel Fossner ’27 — alongside Upper School Computer Science teacher and Department Chair Melissa Tranchida P ’34, ’36, ’37 and Middle School Computer Science teacher Kelly Powers — organized a day of creativity, collaboration and innovation for Middle and Upper School students.

Throughout the day, students worked in groups to create a project centered on the theme of Greentech with the help of phenomenal Hackley alumni and computer science professionals. The event kicked off with a keynote by Lucas Liebenwein of NVIDIA, who inspired participants with insights into the vast applications of computer science. Hackley alum Douglas Alpuche Jr. ’15 led an HTML/CSS workshop for Upper School students and shared his experiences in national security, offering a unique perspective on the field. And alums Sophie Ryan ’24 and Oren Tirschwell ’20 provided guidance to teams as they competed for awards in such categories as “Best Overall Project,” “Best User Interface Design” and “Best Usage of Theme.” Judges included Alpuche, Brian Adams P ’25 of theMednet and Shani Offen of Spotify.

Reflecting on her leadership, Phoebe shared, “I wanted to organize a hackathon at Hackley because attending one myself was a fun and inspiring experience that showed me how computer science can be applied to real-world problems. I hope to have shared that excitement with the students who participated in Hack^2.”

Hack Squared definitely met Phoebe’s goal, with more than 30 Middle and Upper School students expressing enthusiasm, pride in their projects and a newfound interest in hackathons. The seven-hour programming marathon brought coders of all levels together to collaborate, expand their intellectual horizons and refine their presentation skills.

— Written by Meredith Lee ’25