Company’s Hackathon Goes Virtual and Benefits Big Brothers Big Sisters of America This Year
“I’m thrilled we could make this event happen in a virtual environment. Many thanks to all who participated, including Big Brothers Big Sisters of America,” said Scott Roth, senior vice president of IT Enterprise Solutions. “And a special thanks to the many Lincoln employees who volunteered their time and knowledge to bring this event to life.”
Lincoln Financial is pleased to announce the winners of this year’s virtual hackathon to benefit Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. In its seventh year, Lincoln’s hackathon for a good cause transformed from a 24-hour, in-person event based in Greensboro, N.C. to an online program spanning eight weeks that attracted students age 16 and older from across the U.S.
Participants were challenged to create an app that addressed a significant challenge of our nonprofit partner, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America: Keeping mentors and mentees, known as “Bigs” and “Littles,” connected during COVID-19. Their solutions were judged on criteria such as usability, relevance to the challenge, and innovation.
Winners’ Roster
First place: Courvoisier Hopkins of University of California, Irvine, Olufemi Adefila of Georgia Institute of Technology and Alyssa Tan of University of California, Irvine, for Cresh, an app designed to let Bigs and Littles connect through fitness.
Second place: Jesel Reyes of El Centro College, Eric Sanchez of University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and Rahul Athreya or Arizona State University, for EduAR, an educational app designed to let Littles use augmented reality to learn with customized plans from their Bigs.
Third place: Arnav Aggarwal of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Kinllen Peng of Cornell University, Pavan Pandurangi of William Fremd High School, Harmon Bhasin of University of Madison Wisconsin, Pranay Prabhakar of Union College, and Arnav Batta of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, for Project Protect and Equip, which is designed to use machine learning to pinpoint which learning resources Littles need across the country.
Technical Innovation Award: Stella Wang, Tuan Lam, and Tyrell Robbins, all of Temple University, for Hobby Bloc, which is designed to match Littles with physical activity boxes to do with their Bigs over Zoom.
“I’m thrilled we could make this event happen in a virtual environment. Many thanks to all who participated, including Big Brothers Big Sisters of America,” said Scott Roth, senior vice president of IT Enterprise Solutions. “And a special thanks to the many Lincoln employees who volunteered their time and knowledge to bring this event to life.”
Congratulations to the winners—and to all the students whose creativity, innovation, and technical expertise made this virtual event a success!
