Students can celebrate HackOHI/O and Ohio Stadium anniversaries simultaneously

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100 YEARS

Ohio’s largest hackathon and the larger-than-life Ohio Stadium are celebrating milestone anniversaries in 2022. So leaders of both are teaming up to offer students a chance to envision the future of the iconic structure affectionally known as the ‘Shoe.

Overlooking the Olentangy River, Ohio Stadium turned 100 this year. It has hosted thousands of events—athletic contests, commencement ceremonies and concerts—and created millions of memories for Buckeye fans and families. The 10th installment of HackOHI/O, a 24-hour marathon of coding, collaboration and creativity, will be held on October 8-9 in the Ohio Union.

This summer, OHI/O Program Director Cal King and Department of Athletics and Business Advancement Chief Marketing Officer Tracy Hedrick met up to discuss ways the two seemingly disparate anniversaries could connect. They landed on creating a special challenge available for the 800-some student hackathon participants to choose.

Each year HackOHI/O features special challenges provided by corporate sponsors for student teams to tackle and compete for prizes. For example, last year Root Insurance asked hackathon participants for their most innovative solution to making our roads safer. AEP’s challenge involved ways to use drones to help inspect hundreds of thousands of power line miles.

The special Ohio Stadium 100 challenge will ask HackOHI/O students to envision the future of tech in and around the ‘Shoe. “We would love for students at the hackathon to imagine how they could use technology to improve or transform the stadium visitor experience,” said Hedrick. “The challenge is intentionally broad so that their creativity and passion as Buckeye fans can shine.”

hACK 2018
Hack OHI/O 2018

King said that full challenge details will be revealed at the event on October 8.

“We think this is an excellent way to merge Ohio State’s excellence in experiential learning with its passion for athletics,” she added. “We’re excited for students to show the ‘Shoe what they can do.”

HackOHI/O also is launching a partnership with the Keenan Center for Entrepreneurship. Any team that completes HackOHI/O will be invited to participate in the Best of Student Startups (BOSS) program. The first place winner at HackOHI/O will receive an automatic invitation to pitch at the BOSS finale and to participate in Boost Camp, a six-week preparatory program for the President's Buckeye Accelerator.

All majors are welcome to participate in HackOHI/O. To learn more and register by September 30, visit hack.osu.edu/2022/.

Tag: OHI/O

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