"In my eyes, hacking encompasses everything you do at a hackathon, from brainstorming to building something novel and cool, exploring possibilities you wouldn't have otherwise and pushing your limits in the process.
My first hackathon, MHacks, took me on a 13 hour bus ride from UVA, during which time I questioned what I had gotten myself into and whether I knew enough to compete with those who had been programming for years versus my year and a half. However, once I arrived and saw a thousand students like myself, from all over the country with their respective projects and interests, I realized that I had discovered a new field in my area of study that would completely change my perspective. Programming for fun? Why hadn't I thought of that before?
I quickly realized that hackathons are less about how much you know going in and more about how well you can leverage the opportunity to expand your skill set and learn from your peers. For me, hackathons are about making myself learn a few small things, not necessarily to the point of proficiency, but enough to inspire myself to learn more about a subject. They’re about proving to myself that I can learn anything I set my mind to and that it's just a matter of starting and reaching for that goal. Classes put less of an emphasis on that.
To bring the joy of hackathons to UVA beyond the twenty of us who would attend hackathons at other schools, some friends and I organized Hack.UVA and brought the hackathon to them. Roughly 200 students showed up, which was massive for programming at UVA, and, more importantly, it it reached 200 students who otherwise would not have pursued some thought or goal, whether a fleeting idea or a useful tool for themselves. In addition to fostering learning and providing mentorship for students to help them expand their skill sets, we created a sense of community among a network of hackers who now can reach out to one another for future projects."
Anat Gilboa
