An annual tradition since Idea Day in 2019, the Hackathon is a day that provides an opportunity for students to get creative and build their problem-solving skills. The 2025 UAHS Nationwide Hackathon was held on April 11.
The event was similar to those at other high schools, in which the participants took on various tasks involving computer science, which range from entry-level coding to advanced scripts to develop a game. Although it was open school-wide, the majority of participants are computer science students, including Computer Science Club President, senior Michael Lindsay.
“There’s always multiple [challenges] you have to choose from, so anyone at any level of coding knowledge can do something. Last year there was a capture-the-flag challenge where teams hid the flag within a file. There are coding challenges and you can earn prizes,” Lindsay said.
This year featured a contest geared more towards beginners with a microcomputer called Raspberry Pi, and a coding contest for those more well-versed.
Registration opened on March 3 for any UAHS students interested; however, computer science teacher Diane Kahle even welcomed students from several surrounding high schools.
“[Upper Arlington] participated in another school’s hackathon, hosted at Jerome, and two years ago we started opening it up to other high schools to come to ours…about half the kids will be UA kids and about half will be visiting,” Kahle said.
Kahle works with a dedicated hackathon team from Nationwide Insurance each year to make it all possible.
“It’s a learning experience and full day, lots of fun and lots of support from the Nationwide people. The UA+Ed Foundation and PTO also supported us this year with providing lunches and t-shirts and [rubber] ducks. It’s more fun with ducks,” Kahle said.
Nationwide is not only a major sponsor, but also aids in planning the event each year. The team from Nationwide initially became involved with UA’s hackathons when the school reached out for assistance with running events on Idea Day. It worked out well, and Nationwide has supported the event financially and provided people to help run and plan it each year.
Ryan Ferguson is the hackathon event chair at Nationwide. His job is to organize, outreach and facilitate all functions prior to and during the event. His main goal is to make sure the groups within Nationwide are creating challenges with a great learning experience.
“Nationwide is passionate about innovation and using emerging technologies to improve the lives of our members and communities. Supporting UA’s hackathon aligns perfectly with our dedication to nurturing innovative thinking early,” Ferguson said.
Ferguson’s passion for leading the hackathon for Upper Arlington is all about creativity and ingenuity participants can have, and seeing how students can collaborate and grow their problem-solving skills.
“I love seeing teams realize how much they can accomplish in such a short time when they are free to explore, innovate, and harness their creativity,” Ferguson said.
While the annual Hackathon may seem like just a computer science event, there’s something there for any student, looking at any field or career, with any interests, because innovation and problem-solving are important qualities for everyone to grow.
“There’s a lot of kids that like computer science, and maybe they take a class, maybe they don’t have the time to take a class, but this is a day where they can all come together. Our main goals are getting more kids involved in computer science and providing an authentic learning experience,” Kahle said.
The Hackathon continues to garner more interest in computer science, a topic more important than ever with computer technology getting more sophisticated every day.