Journalism Students Shine at Hackathon

Professor Bisheff and a team of journalism
students listen to guidance from
one of the hackathon mentors.

Camp PolyHacks, an interdisciplinary hackathon focused on social entrepreneurship, took place Jan. 24-26 at the Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) HotHouse in downtown San Luis Obispo. Over 100 students from 35 majors participated, forming 12 teams to develop creative solutions for local issues. Journalism students were part of both teams that received recognition at the event. 

Students pitched their ideas in a competition on the final day, with prizes totaling $2,500. Winning projects included The Scoop, a mobile app centralizing campus news with an AI-powered podcast summary; SLO Informed, an AI tool summarizing local government meetings; EcoSort, a smart trash can using AI for waste sorting; and FoodFlow, a web app enhancing access to the Cal Poly food pantry. 

The event, organized by journalism students as a senior project, was supported by the CIE, Cal Poly’s Digital Transformation Hub, multiple Cal Poly colleges and Dignity Health. Community mentors and industry experts led workshops, including a session from New York Times Senior Software Engineer Annie Daniel on web development for major events. 

“Just listening to the students think about the problem spaces and think about how to make a real impact in our community makes me feel hopeful that we’re all going to be okay despite everything that’s happening in the world right now. The future is in good hands,” said Kim Bisheff, Camp PolyHacks advisor and journalism professor. 

Camp PolyHacks continues to showcase Cal Poly’s learn-by-doing ethos, empowering students to drive innovation and tackle real-world challenges.