Two students to attend Harvard computing competition

Two computer science majors from Northwestern College will compete at HackHarvard 2024, a computer coding event, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Oct. 11-13. Mari Hirota and Pratik Paudel have been accepted as two of more than 1,000 competitors in this competition, to be held on the campus of Harvard University.

At HackHarvard, Paudel explains, “Participants develop important skills, learn new technologies, and work together, all while tackling a specific problem in a short time, usually 24 to 48 hours.” This is the ninth year of the event, in which college students from 22 countries and 284 universities have participated. Both Northwestern participants are international students: Hirota is from Japan; Paudel is from Nepal.

Hirota says the competition is about “building an impactful project in a short amount of time with a team. It is not just about winning the ‘hackathon’ but the opportunity to build connections with different students across the nation, improve our technical skills in a short amount of time, and get to know more about companies that sponsor the event.” Remotely they are now picking teams and teammates. When they arrive, they will learn their tasks for the competition.

About the term “hacking,” Paudel explains, “Hacking in events like hackathons is about using technology in creative ways to solve problems. It’s like how we use the word ‘hack’ to describe clever solutions in everyday life. At this event, hacking means creating and building, not breaking or damaging systems.”

Both students are seniors and believe attending and performing well will bolster their resume. Hirota says, “It says that you take the initiative to improve your skills and problem-solving ability in a project that could have an impact on solving real-world problems.”

Real-world problems are what Hirota and Paudel tackled this summer as software engineering interns at Vermeer Corporation in Pella, Iowa. They helped create a product they now work on remotely while finishing their undergraduate degrees.

Northwestern’s computer science program can lead to a career in analytics, database management, game design, network administration, programming, software engineering, web development, research or more. Our graduates enjoy 100% career placement rates, mostly in high-paying jobs at companies that include Apple, Google, IBM, Microsoft and Lockheed Martin. They are in demand because of their knowledge of theory, their hands-on experience in real-world settings, and the values and critical-thinking skills that make them exemplary employees.