Showing Our Pioneering Spirit at Hakd, Hackathon

Last weekend on 15-16 April, 12 of our Dulwich College Suzhou students came to Dulwich College Shanghai Pudong to join the HakD event. There were 7 schools, and almost 150 students demonstrating skill, creativity and a pioneering spirit. 

Hakd is a hackathon for everyone and it is about challenging yourself to push the fundamental boundaries of what you can truly create. It is a great opportunity for those who are new and interested in programming, and for those who want to test their skills in creating awesome products.

During the event, students worked as a team, picked a scenario, and solved problems using technology. In the end, they all presented their products!

Do you want to know what our students learn from the HakD? Let's see 8C, April G and 8D Renee C's articles. 

Coding can be a challenging and sometimes frustrating experience, but for many of us, it's also an incredibly rewarding one. Whether we're building websites, developing apps, or creating software programs, the process of coding requires focus, persistence, and a willingness to learn from our mistakes. 

During this competition, we embraced new things that we have never done before, we stepped out of our comfort zones, and the rewards we got were exceptionally advantageous in many ways. We improved in socially, academically, and even improved our talents of art skills, writing skills and more. Although we met a lot of challenging obstacles during this journey, we overcame them using our flexibility and faced our fears. By doing so, we not only improve our skills as coders but also developed a resilience and determination that can serve us well in all aspects of our lives.

We kept pushing ourselves to learn more and overcame even the most challenging obstacles. One of the hardest struggles were when we spent hours staring at lines of code that just won't work and faced frustrating bugs that seemed to be impossible to fix. We've all had moments of doubt, wondering if we're cut out for this work or if we'll ever be able to figure it out. However, something kept us going. There was this determination and motivation from our peers that pushed us to do our best and solve these seemingly always reappearing problems. We were hard-working, and we had the willingness to endure hardship which enabled us to try out new things we have never experienced before. These qualities were why we earned the Pioneering Spirit award, which will soon become our motivation to continue on our journey of technology. 

We have learnt that Pioneering spirits on programming and teamwork have been the driving force behind some of the most innovative and successful tech companies in the world. From Google to Apple, these companies have created products and services that have changed the way we live, work, and communicate. At the heart of these success stories is a team of programmers who work tirelessly to bring these ideas to life. These pioneering spirits are not just talented coders, but also creative problem solvers, innovative thinkers, and collaborative team members.

Moreover,the pioneer spirit of programming and teamwork is also about pushing boundariesbeyond what seems possible, not just to make a product but to create a newindustry, such as AI or blockchain. This goes beyond the technical side ofthings and requires business acumen and an understanding of the market, whichcan only be achieved through collaboration and teamwork. 

Everyone has disadvantages and advantages, and we can all be good at something but bad at the other. Everyone can join this event, even if they’re just beginners in coding and technological skills. Everyone is different, and being different can make us supplement each other and fill in the gaps of the disadvantages of others.

Thanks to Mr Stewart AITKENHEAD and Ms Wendy Yang for leading and mentoring our students for the HakD.