Welcome to the Hackathon of the Claremont Colleges! The 5C Hackathon is the perfect place to have fun and learn something new. This year's theme is Tech for Good, and whether you're analyzing data for the first time or hacking an interactive robot, we provide awesome swag, food, and mentorship to power you through the entire 24-hour event beginning April 14th, 2023.
Interested? Let's do this.
Registration closes Monday, April 10th at 11:59 pm PT
The 5C Hackathon is a student-run 24-hour event held at Pomona College. Historically, hundreds of Claremont College students gather to work on a diverse range of projects. Our hackathon is a highly anticipated and attended tradition at the Claremont Colleges, drawing creative minds from all five schools in the liberal arts consortium: Pomona, Harvey Mudd, Claremont McKenna, Scripps, and Pitzer.
We pride ourselves on building a creative and diverse techical community and in making the 5C Hackathon beginner-friendly and inclusive. At our last event, more than 50% of participants were first-time hackers, and more than 50% identified as non-male.
Teaching and mentorship are of the utmost importance. We teach beginner and advanced workshops throughout the week preceding the hackathon, an event we lovingly call Hack Week. We have mentors available throughout the event as well.
The overarching theme is Tech for Good! Good means helping people, animals, organizations, or the environment positively. Good can be big, serving entire populations, and it can be small, impacting local or niche topics. In any case, it is always for the greater Good rather than personal gain.
Prizes will be awarded to the top team in each track and the top team in each overlay that creates a great project while demonstrating the spirit of Tech for Good. You can read more about about our Judging Criteria and Project Submission process on our DevPost.
Teams must enter into one of the following tracks. Teams may enter into multiple overlays, but are not required to enter into any.
The answers to all your burning questions.
A hackathon is an event where folks come together to attend workshops, learn from each other, compete for prizes, be silly, and build meaningful projects.
Any student from the Claremont Colleges is invited! Our hackers include all 5C majors, years, identities, and experience levels. Zero coding knowledge required or expected.
Nope! Although hackathons are traditionally coding-heavy, we've opened up our hackathon to include all creative ventures. We have categories for technical and non-technical projects. That said, if you want to learn how to code, a hackathon project is a fantastic opportunity to dive in! Our Hack Week workshops will help you gain coding confidence and skillsets.
Register at this form. It takes about 1 minute! Registration closes April 10, 11:59 pm PST to ensure sufficient time to form teams.
Nope! You can sign up as an individual and we will help you meet other amazing people to create your hackathon team. You can also join our DevPost to introduce yourself to other hackers looking for teammates.
Teams can be comprised of 1-4 hackers. Teams must be finalized before the actual hacking begins!
We want to acknowledge that prizes are not the sole reason why you're here (we're all here to ideate and create for the sake of ideating and creating), but we also acknowledge that they can make your hackathon experience all the more memorable. Prizes consist of fun items, cash, credits, and various swag, to be annouced at the opening ceremony. And, of course, prestigious bragging rights, memories, etc. Sponsored tracks include sponsor-specific prizes.
Send an email to 5chackathon@gmail.com. We'd love to have you on the team!
| Date / Time | Event | Location |
| April 10 | Hack Week begins | schedule below! |
| April 14, 5:00 PM | Hack Week ends | schedule below! |
| April 14, 6:15 PM | Check-in | Estella Laboratory Courtyard |
| April 14, 6:30 PM | Opening Ceremonies | Estella Argue Auditorium |
| April 14, 7:00 PM | Hacking officially begins | |
| April 14, 10:30 PM | Late Night Snack (Cane's Chicken) | Edmunds Ballroom |
| April 15, 12:00 AM | Midnight Run W/ Strava | Edmunds Ballroom |
| April 15, 12:30 AM | Donuts | Edmunds Ballroom |
| April 15, 8:00 AM | Breakfast by Bloomberg | Edmunds Ballroom |
| April 15, 12:00 PM | Mario Kart Tournament | TBA |
| April 15, 3:00 PM | Afternoon Snacks | Edmunds Ballroom |
| April 15, 7:00 PM | Project Submission Closes - Congrats! | Devpost |
| April 15, 7:00 - 7:15 PM | Closing ceremonies | Edmunds Ballroom |
| April 18 | Winners Announced | Check your emails! |
Monday, April 10 - Friday, April 14
Hack Week events are at various times in the afternoons and evenings starting the Saturday before the Hackathon and wrapping up on the 5C Hackathon on Friday.
Want to learn intro coding skills and data analysis? Or even the fundamentals of tech ethics? Hack Week workshops will help you learn how to build and host a website, explore data with Python, and use GitHub with your next project.
Check out some projects and workshops from previous years at our GitHub page. During Hack Week, starter code for technical workshops may also be uploaded here.
Location: Zoom (register to get Meeting ID)
Time: 6:00 PM
Location: Rose Hills Theater, Pomona
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Edmunds 101, Pomona
Time: 5:00 PM
Location: Estella Argue Auditorium, Pomona
Time: 6:00 PM
Location: Zoom (register to get Meeting ID)
Time: 5:00 PM
Location: Zoom (register to get Meeting ID)
Time: 6:00 PM
Location: Estella Argue Auditorium, Pomona
Time: 7:30 PM
Location: Estella Argue Auditorium, Pomona, & Zoom (register to get Meeting ID)
Time: 6:30 PM
Location: Zoom (register to get Meeting ID)
Time: 11:00 AM
Location: Zoom (register to get Meeting ID)
Time: 12:30 PM
Location: Hive Studio 1
Time: 4:00 PM
Sponsoring is a great way to connect with incredibly talented and creative students at the elite Claremont Colleges in computer science and in other diverse fields. By sponsoring, you can get access to the resumes of hundreds of students, showcase your API or product, and see students make awesome projects. As a sponsor, you’ll also have the opportunity to mentor students and get them excited about programming!
Please see the sponsorship tiers below detailing the different ways in which you can be part of the 5C Hackathon. Can’t find a tier that works for you? Send us an email at 5chackathon@gmail.com and we’ll work out the details.
+ Swag distribution
+ Logo on website, t-shirts, poster
Everything in Bronze
+ Access to participant resumé database
+ Send engineers, recruiters
Everything in Silver
+ Prizes sponsored in [your] name
Everything in Gold
+ Keynote Speaker
+ Special logo placement on website, t-shirts, posters
Be kind to others. Do not insult or put down other attendees. Behave professionally. Remember that harassment and racist, sexist, or exclusionary jokes or project content are not appropriate for this event and will not be tolerated.
Harassment includes but is not limited to: offensive verbal comments related to gender, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, race, or religion; inappropriate images in public spaces; deliberate intimidation; unwelcome photography or recording; inappropriate physical contact; and unwelcome attention.
We welcome attendees from all backgrounds and skill levels – from “never been to a hackathon before” to seasoned developers. This event is about increasing innovation, partnership, and engagement in the technical community on campus.
Do your best. Learn something new. Don't take it too seriously!
Hannah Mandell
Catherine Byen
Emily Tomz
Sam Malik
Emily Gao
Seohyeon Lee, Aldo Ruiz Parra, Keyron Linarez
Sangeon Park