Utah's First Local Hack Day Comes to Utah State

Local Hack Day is a free event aimed at high school students who are interested in programming to join a global 12-hour mini-hackathon at Utah State University’s Logan campus on Oct. 10.

The event will focus on teaching attendees how to code their own apps. There will be two free meals provided by Major League Hacking, or MLH, Utah State’s College of Engineering and the Computer Science Department. The event is organized by HackUSU, a club of Utah State that welcomes students of all skill level to come learn more about coding. Organizers say one of the main goals is to promote the computer science department at Utah State and the highly demanded skill of computer science that benefits all professional fields.

MLH’s purpose is to promote future programmers, getting them interested and closing the gap between the number of computer science graduates and the high demand in the growing field. HackUSU is advocating for students in the community who are interested in coding and programming through events. The Local Hack Day event is a first for the state of Utah.

“Anybody can create something in 12 hours, guaranteed and we’ll help you do it,” said Alex Lutz, HackUSU organizer. “High school seniors coming into college have no idea what they want to do and this event gives them a taste of what we and the tech industry are all about, and it may not be what they want to do for the rest of their life but at least it gives them someone to talk to.”

Travis Randall, another HackUSU organizer, said the club isn’t only for people interested in computer science but in all fields, especially those that will use these skills in their careers.

“Every professional from any department will tell you to have some sort of knowledge of computers just because that is the reality, that’s how we live today.”

More information about the event is online.