ANSH JAIN

Welp, that was a crazy week. Classes just ended this week, and my god did the professor choose to go out with a bang. I still have a final project and two exams this week, but that’s nothing compared to all of the combined homework and tests I had to complete this past week. Throw in the fact that I need to advertise SummerHacks and I had a recipe for an unbelievably busy time. I know it sounds like I’m complaining, but I’m actually quite impressed with everything I was able to accomplish, and I think I’ll take a nice long break once these finals are over. A lot of interesting side stuff happened this week as well though. I think one of my favorite parts was a call I had with two of the other SummerHacks directors and Helena Merk, the co-founder of a company called Glimpse. Glimpse is a mobile app that essentially works like virtual speed dating: a bunch of people join a room and the app randomly pairs them off so they can have 2-minute video calls with each other. It’s perfect for hackathon team matching, since it doesn’t require everyone to be brave and interact with strangers on their own accord, but it still gets people to meet each other. Helena even allowed us to test the app, and for just 6 months of work, it was very impressive. I highly recommend checking it out at this link or by finding it on either app store. We also had a call with Duke University’s Phoenix Project, a foundation that tries to match students with companies that are looking for interns during these hard times. It’s been a great week to see what other people are up to, so I hope you consider checking out both of these amazing projects.

It’s the year 2020, and we are all currently at war with the infamous virus known as COVID-19. This quarantine hasn’t been easy; boredom threatens to overtake us all, and I’ve ironically sunk to the point where I’m writing blog posts now to keep myself entertained. I can imagine that there are plenty of other people like me, who are looking for something to keep their minds occupied as this quarantine drags on longer, seemingly with no end in sight. Just a week ago, I was trying to figure out how I could use my skills to help this situation, or help people get through it. Finally, when I was talking to my team for one of my organizations, we had a great idea. I’m part of Freetail Hackers, an organization that throws a huge hackathon every fall at UT, and over the past 7 years, we have become quite good at efficiently throwing hackathons and bringing people in the technology space together. Many students around the country are losing their internships, cancelling study abroad plans, working from home, and more, and it won’t be long before they start to run out of things to do. That’s why my team and I came up with SummerHacks, a 12-week long virtual hackathon over the summer where students can use their time to create something impactful and contribute to the end of this pandemic! There is a lot of work to be done regarding the organizing and planning of the event, but I am confident my team and I will be able to handle it and throw a successful event this summer. Stay tuned for more information, and if you’re reading this, I hope you consider applying!