2nd Annual CAPS Network Hackathon Hosted by St. Louis CAPS
On Saturday, October 21st St. Louis CAPS hosted the 2nd Annual CAPS Network Hackathon that brought together students from seven different CAPS programs and four states (Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Wisconsin). The competition was held at the Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC) at 4240 Duncan Avenue within the The Cortex Innovation Community. Teams were intentionally comprised of students from different CAPS programs and courses that met for the first time that morning. The design challenge called for teams to come up with solutions that would redesign the average high school classroom to promote better collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity. Teams had 5 hours to create their solution and the competition culminated with each team pitching their solution to a panel of industry professionals. The top 3 teams received Amazon gift cards.
Students that participate in CAPS programs spend an entire year learning directly from business and industry partners in the career field they are interested in pursuing. The CAPS courses offered align to high-skill, high-demand professional workforce needs in the local economy. Instead of traditional high school assignments, students work on client projects and passion projects that are usually equated with professionals already in a particular business and industry. We often say that CAPS students are allowed to fast-forward beyond college to test-drive their future career while still in high school.
CAPS Network Hackathon Participants:
St. Louis CAPS – Missouri
Parkway Spark! – Missouri
Northland CAPS – Missouri
Blue Valley CAPS – Kansas
TCALC in Topeka – Kansas
EXCEL in Little Rock – Arkansas
Oconomowoc – Wisconsin
First Place:
Olivia Coplin, St. Louis CAPS
Sergei Creech, Blue Valley CAPS
Matthew Caudill, TCALC Topeka
Travale James, EXCEL Little Rock
Tazarah Bryant, EXCEL Little Rock
Maddie LaPaz, Oconomowoc
Second Place:
Jordan Bush, Northland CAPS
Emma Hubka, TCALC Topeka
Edward Baker, TCALC Topeka
Mariel Martinez, EXCEL Little Rock
Cole Frost, Oconomowoc
Third Place:
Owen Adrian, Northland CAPS
Antonio Linhart, Blue Valley CAPS
Caleb Dibble, TCALC Topeka
Angelica Comahig, TCALC Topeka
Cecilia Castillo, EXCEL Little Rock
