Member Article

Hackathon shows youth can achieve their ambition

A digital marathon which took place across the nation to find a solution to a social myth has found a concept developed by a Sunderland team of tech wizards.

Team ‘YouCan!’ took part in the 30-hour-hackathon at Sunderland Software City and developed a concept for youth project Ambition Lab, which is helping young people from lower-socio economic backgrounds realise and achieve their aspirations.

Ambition Lab is aiming to dispel the myth that young people growing up in this type of social environment have low ambition. After discovering this is untrue in a piece of research and a ground-breaking documentary, the hackathon was organised to come up with a digital platform young people can access to help them achieve success in life.

YouCan! created a website, where young people can log on and choose an opportunity in their local area, such as a bowling night or rock-climbing day, based on their interests and the skills they would like to develop.

The team was made up of two Lord Lawson of Beamish Academy sixth form students Nick Sudin and Alex Logan, Adam Hill and Stefan Kimak from Newcastle based Consult and Design International, computer and IT developer Peter Nelson and games programming student Holger Baltweg, who were all rewarded for their winning concept with a visit to technology giant Cisco UK and Ireland HQ and a £1,000 cash prize.

Adam said: “The event joined technology and society to create something beneficial to others and we had so much fun in the process.

“YouCan! is a great way for young people and organisations to make connections and collaborate in a safe and convenient way. We strongly feel that with the correct support it could really make a difference.

“The website encourages users to input their details and matches them to local organisations and with 13 different categories there’s a lot to choose from.”

Once a young person has completed an opportunity they are rewarded through a badge system which they can later use to show potential employers the skills they have gained.

17-year-old student, Nick, said: “The hackathon was a valuable experience and has provided me with a selection of very useful skills which I’ll be able to take on to whatever I do in the future.

“The team we worked with were helpful and friendly and I was extremely pleased with how the end product turned out. I’m really proud of the website and hope it will motivate and encourage more young people.”

Five teams and over 50 volunteers took part in the hackathon at virtual Cisco-led NVI (National Virtual Incubator) networks across the nation, including Sunderland, Swansea and Strathclyde.

Hannah Underwood, CEO of Keyfund, added: “We really liked the idea of YouCan! as a way of exploring what is available in the local area and how to get involved at the click of a mouse.

“This type of hackathon had never been done before and we’re so proud of all the teams involved and the concepts they created. We had a fantastic turnout of programme developers, software engineers, marketing strategists and many more professionals who culminated their specific skills to produce ambitious and pioneering developments.”

The next step of the project will take the ideas through to full development by using a new crowdfunding platform to raise the funds needed to ensure all young people have access to the fantastic digital concepts developed from the hackathon.

A video of the hackathon is available to view online here.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ambition Lab .