Gettysburg College students can gain valuable experience in problem solving, teamwork, and project management through projects while building on the fundamentals of their knowledge learned through coursework.
In late October and early November 2024, Gettysburg College computer science students showcased their enduring skills at the 2024 student-run YCPHacks, a 24-hour event hosted by York College of Pennsylvania, and the 36-hour Technica hackathon, hosted by the University of Maryland. At both events, students created solutions to real-world problems, employing creativity, teamwork, and problem solving while applying lessons from the classroom and from learning languages like Python and Java to working with AI.
In October 2024, Yashaswe Amatya ’26, Aryama Sharma ’27, Prashriya Acharya ’27, and Aashama Adhikari ’27 won the Best Financial Hack sponsored by Capital One at Technica. Despite many team members being new to hackathons, their project Pennywise, built with tools such as Gemini AI, React.js, and Flash, placed first over more than 1,000 students.
“Actually winning was a reassurance of my skills that I could learn things and apply them in real life. It inspired me to create projects of my own—start doing something with the skills that I have,” said Sharma, a first-time hackathon participant.
Amatya, who has previously attended hackathons, led her team. Her growing skills in the fundamentals of computer science from courses at Gettysburg gave her and her team a strong foundation to secure their victory.
“Courses here [at Gettysburg] also give you transferrable skills. We’re not just learning Java. We’re first learning Java, and in the same course, I’m able to transfer my Java skills to learn assembly language. Even in AI, I’m using Java. It was really helpful to grasp new skills,” said Amatya.
“Some of these programs didn’t exist two years ago, so we have to be able to adapt for our students,” said Computer Science Chair Sunghee Sunny Kim. “That’s something we want them to always keep in mind. You have to learn how to problem solve.”
At YCPHacks in November 2024, Anwar Reghai ’27, Taha Sabir ’27, Srijan Sapkota ’27, and Jamal Mark Gache ’27 won first place for First Hack with their project York Note, which uses Supabase and React.js to create a platform where York College students can share notes and ideas. Ulykbek Khairulla ’27, Kiet Tran ’26, Subhanjan Baral ’27, and Thomas Redfern, a student from York College, also collaborated to win second place for Best Domain Name from GoDaddy Registry with their project Grease Gallery, which extracts text from an image and analyzes it using React.js.
Additionally, Sanij Shrestha ’26, Marko Tsymbaliuk ’26, Andry Rakotonjanabelo ’25, and Priyanshu Pyakurel ’27 won second place for Best of Show at YCPHacks with their project Dermafyr. This AI-powered dermatological analysis uses the programs React.js, Electron, Raspberry Pi 5, TensorFlow, FastAPI, and Gemini API. Their project, inspired by Sunny Phuong Ho ’27, was originally presented during the Building America: Economic Transformation Through STEM Innovation seminar by the Eisenhower Institute. While Ho was unable to join the hackathon, her input helped the group claim the prize. Rakotonjanabelo led as project manager, training their AI model and ensuring the project ran smoothly, from conception to completion.
“Learning to manage your task, learning to debug issues, solve problems—those are key skills that we had to apply during the hackathon,” said Rakotonjanabelo.
“A hackathon is like an ultimate test, where everything you’ve learned, from academics to teamwork, you get to test in a very short amount of time,” added Shrestha. “Even though we were separated into different teams, I felt a unity with all of them. It was a great opportunity to meet new friends.”
Foster innovation and creativity through the computer science major.
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By Katie Lauriello ’25
Photos provided by Computer Science Chair Sunghee Sunny Kim
Posted: 01/09/25