A few weeks ago, I participated in HackWashU, the student-run hackathon hosted here on campus. 

As the opening ceremony began, I was struck by a dreadful realization: The sore throat that had plagued me that morning wasn’t budging, and my nose was annoyingly stuffy. Starting the hackathon sick was far from ideal, but quitting wasn’t an option. The event’s organizers were presenting crucial information: rules, sponsors, and prizes. But with my groggy consciousness, I looked over at Cheng Li, my teammate and friend and also a first-year student, hoping he was getting the details.

Oh, no — he was playing games on his iPad.

After the ceremony, Cheng and I started working in a cozy corner in one of the computer labs above Lopata Gallery. The first thing I drank was a Ghost energy drink that I had grabbed for free, which felt a tad unusual since I was sick, but the label did boast “four daily vitamins.” The first thing we had to do was brainstorm and choose an idea to execute. Cheng and I had a bit of disagreement here, but we cooked up four incredible (er, in my humble opinion) ideas. 

The first idea was a voice-directed calculator program that could handle derivatives and limits, eliminating the headache of formatting math problems. For example, since there’s no clear “log” keyboard button, all you would need to say is “log base two of 16.”

The second idea was a schedule-builder with a twist — it would create the schedule based on a funny personality profile. Or, it would give you an amusing personality based on your schedule. This tool was more for fun than practicality.

The third idea was a daily meal advisor. Based on your meal points, it would suggest on-campus dining options for an entire day within your budget. For example, if you wanted a drink and dinner from Corner 17, it may advise a smaller dinner.

The fourth idea was a 3D model of Olin Library’s exterior on the web, complete with clickable areas offering bits of information (such as the history/some fun facts). Again, this was possibly more about fun than practicality.

In the end, Cheng and I decided on the fourth idea. The main reason was that it required us to work with entirely new software and coding languages, which sounded like an exciting challenge.

We would soon realize exactly how big of a challenge it was.

I was tasked with creating the 3D model using Blender, a 3D graphics-making tool, while Cheng worked on the web interface. We worked tirelessly in our corner, with occasional distractions — namely, random YouTube videos and free-food announcements. At midnight, I completed a rudimentary model. I felt modest pride considering I started with zero knowledge of Blender. However, I knew that to create a winning product, it would have to be strikingly visually appealing. Cheng grappled with a piece of code that would enable users to interact with the model by clicking and moving their mouse to view the library  at any angle.

“I’ve been watching tutorials for SIX HOURS!” Cheng said, slapping his head with both hands. At that moment, I contemplated the idea of switching to working with something we were more familiar with, such as an app coded with Java. We had discussed this earlier, but we never fully considered it. I was about to bring up the topic, but right as I opened my mouth, Cheng clapped his hands and broke into a wide grin.

“I FIGURED IT OUT!” he proclaimed, extending his hand for a high-five. I closed my mouth, feeling like I shouldn’t mention my idea anymore. “That’s great,” I said.

The next morning, we scrambled to add the finishing touches and record a demo/explanation video for our project. The project had a hard deadline of 1 p.m., but we were still recording at 12:30 p.m., racing against the clock. By 12:50, the video was finally edited, but we had to upload it to YouTube. Depending on the rendering and uploading time, we could miss the deadline.

“Go, go, go!” I nearly screamed as Cheng frantically clicked through layers of confirmation buttons to start the upload. At 12:58, the video was 75% uploaded. I sat on the edge of my seat, with my mouse cursor ready to copy and paste the video link as soon as it was available.

“SUBMIT!” Cheng yelled as the video completed its upload at 12:59. Right on time, the form accepted our response. With my adrenaline soaring, the only thing I could do was cheer, probably disturbing anyone in the vicinity.

The results were announced later that day. We didn’t win any awards, but Cheng and I had accepted that possibility even before the rankings were revealed. The primary purpose of HackWashU and our participation was the experience — to embrace the challenge of new code and to pursue a goal that embodies the essence of HackWashU and the spirit of WashU in general.

Though I wished my nose wasn’t as determined to stay stuffy.

Check out the winning projects here and all projects made here