The word “Global” is constantly used at NYU, at least at NYU Shanghai: we are all striving to be global citizens, to make the world our major, to understand Global Perspectives on Society, Culture, Humanities, etc. Most importantly, we are constantly reminded that we are part of a global community; it is no surprise that the word “global” itself has become a part of NYU’s branding. People also often talk about hackathons. In fact, it is mentioned so many times that some people struggle to avoid hearing the term. Most people have a good understanding of how hackathons work - people get together and code for too many hours. And yet, the true meaning of a hackathon is often lost in conversation. Hackathons are not supposed to get programmers to tirelessly work on a project hoping it will be good enough to win a prize. Far from it actually: Hackathons are actually about bringing people with very different talents together, having them share their ideas and learn from one another. Hackathon are an amazing experience. The spotlight now shines on what happens when you put together the words “global” and “hackathon”, and it was exactly this question the Student Governments of NYU’s three portal campuses decided to explore. It is hard to say where exactly this idea originated from, as with all great ideas, this one too was shared by many people living thousands of miles apart. It was only a matter of time till the organizers all decided that they wanted this to happen and got together to create this project. The idea was simple: organizing a hackathon with the most authentic global experience yet, possible only within NYU’s Global Network. This was about the be the very first Global Hackathon, one where people from all over the world could work together even without physically being together. It was definitely an idea worth exploring. But while it was worth exploring, it wasn’t easy, and the organizers knew that before they began actualizing the idea. It surely came with a lot of difficulties that had to be consider, such as the fact that while the campuses may be a Skype call away, bad connections can get in the way, and while the distance of thousands of miles don’t matter, hours of timezones do. While all these problems were a learning experience, some of them were really hard to tackle. However, none were enough to stop our school from hosting the event, an event that Alexandru Grigoras, our NYU Shanghai organizer, believes went very successfully. The event was a success not because of its size but its outcome. There were only 20-30 students who took part from the Shanghai campus, and there were 400 participants across the 3 campuses, but the accomplishments and projects of the participants were amazing. The event was able to bring together great programmers and amazing video editors together with passionate people with amazing ideas who had never been to a hackathon before. Together, students came up with ideas such as Discuss, a social platform for students to read together interactively, and uMail, a huge productivity that summarizes your emails. In fact, some of the winning products already have investment proposals! Moreover, one of the organizers’ biggest achievements was the fact that almost half of the students in the winning teams had no prior programming experience, having learnt the basic of programming during the event. This event also encouraged several participants to take programming courses or learn it on their own. The “global” aspect of the Hackathon was achieved by cross-campus teams, such as the fact that the winning team in Shanghai contained a study away student from New York, and the second place winner in Abu Dhabi included a sophomore from Shanghai. This event was successful because it brought together people who had never interacted before to form a team and design something great, all within 24 hours. This is exactly what it means to be a study of NYU. Alexandru is thankful for each and every problem the organizers faced, for organizing the hackathon also became a matter of understanding cross-campus relationships, camus-specific events (like Dumpling Festival at NYU Shanghai!), and simply learning about the culture and spirit of the students that are a part of the NYU family without living under the same roof. Collaboration between the three campuses was not easy, but it was a unique experience. Alexandru believe each of the organizers, and he guarantee this for himself, has learnt an incredible amount about the other two portal schools, and gained more knowledge even about their own school. Such an event was only possible at NYU, not just because of the presence of the Global Network, but also thanks to the amazing student body and staff that provided unconditional support throughout. The event had Google as a sponsor, among others, but the greatest contribution was made directly by our university, and not just financially. From university officials in Shanghai to various departments in New York and Abu Dhabi, a huge number of people played a very important role in this event, and we should all feel really proud to know that these people are present in our campus to help us. Such an event could not have happened without their support. An important value NYU promotes is to not rest on our laurels. The booster-final voting process for this event is yet to take place, yet this years organizers have already started preparing for next year’s hackathon. A few of from Shanghai will be part of the organizing team again, and they hope to use this year’s experience to make next year’s hackathon even better. One of their goals for next year is to tighten cross-campus connections even more and involve even more students. This project is one of the many towards the strengthening NYU’s global family, yet it is up to each and every student to utilize this hackathon and turn it into something great. But this isn’t a great concern because knowing this university and this community, HackNYU 2016 is bound to be great. This article was written by Lathika Chandra Mouli. Send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit: Zhang Zhan