MENTOR INFORMATION

What's the role of mentors?  

Mentors will be circulating among the middle and high school students to help groups of students brainstorm ideas for apps, video games, graphic designs, websites, etc...that they could begin to work on and then assist the students groups to execute the apps, video games, websites to the greatest extent possible so that the students would have something to show/present to the judges by the end of the hackathon. Mentors will be inspiring ideation and motivating student groups towards implementation! It's a limited period of time, of course, so we know that student groups are not going to be able to necessarily have a completed product but we are convinced that the students will benefit a great deal by working collaboratively with other students and mentors to attempt to develop a product. If, by the end of the event, student groups have a well thought out idea/vision and a viable schema that is capable of being implemented that would be a huge victory! We'd also like mentors to consider organizing a WORKSHOP for the attendees where mentors can educate students about a particular tech topic or describe a particular opportunity available to students wanting to study in the STEM fields (presenting a workshop is optional but encouraged :-)).

Will this be a volunteer position for mentors? 

We can offer mentors community service hours along with food, a shirt, lanyard, and other swag to mentors who volunteer (and maybe $50 if we secure the funding we’re seeking; TBD). This is also an experience that college students and professionals can include on their resume or portfolio! Additionally, the entire event is going to be professionally video recorded and there will be several photographers as well who will be capturing the interactions between the mentors and the middle & high school students. Most importantly, mentors will be gaining the satisfaction of helping younger students gain a better understanding and greater confidence related to this potential field of study and career path. As you know, a caring and encouraging adult can make a huge positive difference in the life of a young person!

Location and time commitment? 

The hackathon will be held in the STEM buildings at Hartnell College on Saturday, October 19. Registration will begin at 8 am and the event will conclude at 6 pm. Ideally, we'd like mentors to assist attendees from about 10-5 pm if possible but mentors can come out for less time if their schedules do not permit them to stay the entire time. We're flexible! If you’re going to present a WORKSHOP which begins at 10 am, we’d like mentors to arrive as early as they need to set up their workshop. We’d also like some mentors to consider being JUDGES at the end of the competition!!