UMass, BC Students Win $10K in ‘Hack Haverhill’ Competition

College students from UMass Lowell and Boston College developed a civic technology solution worthy of a $10,000 prize during this weekend’s Hack Haverhill competition. (WHAV News photograph)

College students from UMass Lowell and Boston College developed a civic technology solution worthy of a $10,000 prize during this weekend’s Hack Haverhill competition. (WHAV News photograph)

Haverhill’s been hacked—for the community’s benefit. Dozens of area computer-savvy teens and adults pulled an all-nighter at downtown’s UMass Innovation Hub during the city’s first-ever civic technology hackathon this weekend. Called Hack Haverhill, the Friday and Saturday event saw college students from UMass Lowell and Boston College take home the competition’s top $10,000 prize.

Known collectively as the “RAMS,” programmers Simon Wang, PJ Blanchard, David Shen and Edwin Mariaux wowed judges—including Senator-elect Diana DiZoglio, Lightspeed Manufacturing President Rich Breault and RMON Networks’ Denise Howard—with their community-based interface that allowed schools and nonprofits to collaboratively monitor and predict student success.

“Great innovation is happening in Haverhill,” City Council President A. Michitson, whose MITRE Corporation sponsored the event alongside the office of state Rep. Andy Vargas, Microsoft and others.

The college coders weren’t the only ones who worked late into the night and caught the early-morning sunrise from the third floor of Harbor Place.

Haverhill High School was well represented during the 24-hour civic technology competition, with two teams from the NAF Academy of Information Technology taking part. Upperclassmen Olivia Bene, Emily Kelley, Declan Dean, John Wholley, Mina Girgis and Bruce Petersen scored $1,000 for the free app they created called Parent Portal. The solution prioritized chronic absenteeism, one of Haverhill’s well-documented areas of concern.

The group’s teacher, Michael Petersen, told WHAV he couldn’t be more proud of their initiative.

“This is a great way for them to showcase what they’ve learned in four years at our academy and really take the lead,” he said. “We try to keep current with technology—they learn Python programming language and database design and everything we do in that class applies to this event.”

Downtown makerspace Creatorpult was also recognized for their 24-hour achievement, with owner Chris White and teammates Chris Ellen and Eva Montibello chosen as one of nine finalists. Their project, a website called “Empower Haverhill,” focused on locals helping locals, team spokeswoman Montibello said.

The event was made possible through a partnership with the Haverhill Public Schools, Greater Haverhill Chamber of Commerce and Merrimack Valley Planning Commission. Prize money was donated by Team Haverhill.

CLICK BELOW FOR MORE PHOTOS FROM THE TWO-DAY HACK HAVERHILL EVENT.