February 22, 2025 • 10 mins
By the year 2030, experts say most work opportunities will require applicants to be strong in their digital literacy skills, including knowledge of artificial intelligence systems. As we work with future generations to get them ready for the workforce, schools are coming up with creative ways to teach those skills. Enter "hack-a-thons", where students are presented a complex problem and they have to use those skills to find a solution - and Roxbury Community College's Computer Science Club is about to host one for the very first time! Derek Goodwin, student organizer of the event, and faculty advisor Dr. Mya Bowen join the show to talk about hack-a-thons and what they hope theirs will accomplish.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.
Each and every week right here, we come together, we
talk about all the topics important to you and the
place where you live. Great to be back with you
again as always, I'm Nicole Davis. By the year twenty thirty,
experts say the vast majority of work opportunities we're talking
ninety percent here will require you to have some kind
(00:29):
of digital skills. As we work with future generations in
high school and college to get them ready to enter
the workforce, schools are coming up with creative ways to
get those skills taught. At Roxbury Community College, they're doing
it through their first ever hackathon. This is all through
the school's Computer Science Club. So let's find out more.
Derek Goodwin, a student at RCC, is the president of
(00:51):
the club and the organizer of the hackathon. Doctor Maya
Bowen is the club's faculty advisor and an assistant professor.
It is good to have you both here and you
know Bowen why a hackaphone.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
During my time as an instructor for the RCC Ist Internship,
which Derek was one of two students during last semester,
we started talking about engagement within the community on the campus,
and so I started thinking about the things that were
(01:22):
actually really popping across many other campuses. And this is
something that RCC has not done in the past. And
so be it that it's actually Black History Month, and
there are a lot of technologists as well as just
individuals within STEM and outside of them that are innovators.
(01:47):
Why not celebrate the month with contributing to an event
that will allow for students to become not only engaged,
but I coined it PCP for Problem Solving, Collaboration and Presentations.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Okay, okay, I get that. So, you know, Derek, for
somebody who might be listening and is not too computer
savvy or into STEM and they think hackathon, why are
they hacking? What are we hacking? Can you tell me
like a little bit about what exactly a hackathon is
and how it's not you breaking into bank accounts as
some people might think.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
So a hackathon is an environment where contestants such as
students or official employees or tech companies, user creativity with
their tech skills to solve real world solutions. And in
our case is going to be within our organization. W
can do to help RCC students, and this is sort
of more like it's breaking through the door of the
(02:46):
hackathon so we can get right next to the Harvard's
and mits of the world.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
That would be nice, right, So how is this all
then going to work, doctor Bowen? I mean, this is
part of the computer club. This is all happening here
in a couple of days. How exactly does this work?
Speaker 2 (03:03):
It's a journey, of course, But the hagathon plays out
in terms of the students actually arriving an hour before
the hack of Stan starts, which is going to be
at ten am, and then the hackathon launches at eleven am,
so they will have an opportunity for that hour to
get some housekeeping done and so I'll be facilitating that
(03:24):
and as individuals arrive, they will be given out packets
and given the instructions in regards to what is that
they actually have to do. But I would have to
say that prior to this, we actually have had the
opportunity to meet in what we call the Bubble. It's
actually a networking lab here on campus, so that it
(03:47):
is that students can get more information related to what
a hackathon is and what will be required of them.
But I will be remiss to state that the Hagathon
is not only for STEM related disciplines, but it's for
all students across campus that have an interest and actually
participating in a event such as.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Yeah, that's really cool, and like, let's talk about interest, Derek,
what are you hearing on campus from your peers and
how much interest have you seen so far in this?
Speaker 3 (04:14):
The average answer is I always get it is a hackathon,
But once I start explaining it into the my colleague
students and everything, they start to get more interests of it,
especially as we're going on into the future. Think about
how employment it's going to be twenty years from now,
so it's sort of like a requirement, you know, So
(04:35):
just trying to get them more explain to the how
it's really more of a fun activity, because as soon
as a student here is it, they automatically always hacking
is too much typing, coding. I don't have the skill
to get very intimidated, And it's like, no, no, no,
you don't. You don't have to be intimidated by it.
You can learn from it can be fun, and the
more you do it, it can be creative with it,
(04:56):
turn yourself into an innovator.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Right, I mean, and there's all sorts of ways to
make it a bit easier. It's not like you're writing
DOS code from twenty years ago or whatever, writing C
or like me eons ago. We won't talk about how
long ago it was, you know, making my GeoCities page
and teaching myself HTML. Things are very very different these days.
And I think doctor Bowen, that accessibility makes it a
(05:19):
little bit easier to get more people into STEM fields.
Do you think it depends?
Speaker 2 (05:24):
The keyword is intimidation, right, So people think about STEM
they either have a passion forward or they shy away
from it. And so where the accessibility actually comes into
the portion of communicating it broadly in terms of gathering interest,
is just having an ongoing conversation regarding what the possibilities are.
(05:47):
And so as a matter of fact, I have four degrees,
but I'm actually OURCC student as well, so I'm going
for a mathematics degree to tie into the Information system
Technology department in terms of different types of degree programs
that we are playing the offer in the future. So
you know, uh, the intimid Once the intimidation is stripped away,
(06:10):
what typically ends up happening is there are more questions,
but then with the more questions becomes opportunities for that
conversation to continuously be promoted.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Yeah, and Derek, you brought up a good point looking ahead,
even not just twenty years to the future. Right now,
digital literacy is so important even if you don't necessarily
want to go to college, if you want to go
in the trades, whatever it is you want to do.
I mean, tell me a little bit about how you're
seeing people your age embracing digital literacy.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
So I think they're embracing it on a social media level, Okay,
but when it comes to say like creating a web
page or you know, one start a YouTube channel, they
always have to go to somebody and that's and it's like,
you don't have to You don't have to go to
a middle a middle man like you can. It's gonna
(06:59):
take you five man to learn this and you can
do it and get creative with it. We have someone
like going back to the access accessibility, got YouTube tutorials,
you got Chad DBT, you got all AI vehicles where
it makes it impossible for anybody to not achieve.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Let's talk a little bit about these specifics of the event.
So this is happening on the twenty eighth, tell us
you know who what when we're why? How people can
get involved? If an RCC student is listening right now
and thinking, oh my gosh, I think I want to
do that, I'm super scared, but I kind of want
to try, how can they get involved?
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Well, they can always contact me at Empty Bowing at
RCC dot mass at edu to find out more information.
Derek also is almost always here actually facilitating resource tables
and just throughout the hallways in between classes speaking to
his peers in regards to it. And so from the
(07:58):
perspective of contacting myself and or Derek, you can place
a phone call at A five seven uh seven oh
one thirteen fifty three and get in contact with me immediately.
But from the perspective of actually just broadcasting this out
and its entirety, students and or anybody within the community
(08:22):
really and truly can you know, really just stop by
or email me or contact me via phone so that
it is that they can find out more information. We're
looking for sponsors for for swag. We are okay if
anyone who wants to donate food, that would be awesome
because that's a big draw. Our students love food. I
(08:46):
think all college students do.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
It's kind of a requisite anxiety.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
So you know, we're here more often than not, and
so a quick email will be a dually taken into
effect and responded to within a decent amount of awesome.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
And you know, Derek, I mean for people who are
your age who want to get involved in the Computer
Science Club or any other programs on campus that might
involve this sort of thing. What's your advice.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
I don't think kids do. Don't think kids do. Yeah,
if you if you invest in everything else, if you
go to work and clock in, you can you can
invest in yourself to better yourself for the future. Because
one thing I was talking to doctor Boeen about and
I always told them, like, you know, we're making history
right now because RCC never had a hackathone before, so
(09:38):
this is gonna be our very first hackathone. Then as
we progress, then we'll probably be on some more dexter
laboratories dollars doing gates stuff. But right now we're just
kicking the door down. We're making we're making our own
room for RCC's hackaphone.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Yeah, no, trust me, I prefer RCC's lab over Dexter's laboratory.
It's probably about well, this is phenomenal news. I love
this so much and I really hope it just goes
so swimmingly and so easily. So Doctor Bowen and Derek,
good luck, and I wish you all the best in
this event.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Have a wonderful warm weekend, stay warm and cozy, and
be sure to join us again next week for another
edition of the show. I'm Nicole Davis from WBZ News
Radio on iHeartRadio.
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.
Each and every week right here, we come together, we
talk about all the topics important to you and the
place where you live. Great to be back with you
again as always, I'm Nicole Davis. By the year twenty thirty,
experts say the vast majority of work opportunities we're talking
ninety percent here will require you to have some kind
(00:29):
of digital skills. As we work with future generations in
high school and college to get them ready to enter
the workforce, schools are coming up with creative ways to
get those skills taught. At Roxbury Community College, they're doing
it through their first ever hackathon. This is all through
the school's Computer Science Club. So let's find out more.
Derek Goodwin, a student at RCC, is the president of
(00:51):
the club and the organizer of the hackathon. Doctor Maya
Bowen is the club's faculty advisor and an assistant professor.
It is good to have you both here and you
know Bowen why a hackaphone.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
During my time as an instructor for the RCC Ist Internship,
which Derek was one of two students during last semester,
we started talking about engagement within the community on the campus,
and so I started thinking about the things that were
(01:22):
actually really popping across many other campuses. And this is
something that RCC has not done in the past. And
so be it that it's actually Black History Month, and
there are a lot of technologists as well as just
individuals within STEM and outside of them that are innovators.
(01:47):
Why not celebrate the month with contributing to an event
that will allow for students to become not only engaged,
but I coined it PCP for Problem Solving, Collaboration and Presentations.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Okay, okay, I get that. So, you know, Derek, for
somebody who might be listening and is not too computer
savvy or into STEM and they think hackathon, why are
they hacking? What are we hacking? Can you tell me
like a little bit about what exactly a hackathon is
and how it's not you breaking into bank accounts as
some people might think.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
So a hackathon is an environment where contestants such as
students or official employees or tech companies, user creativity with
their tech skills to solve real world solutions. And in
our case is going to be within our organization. W
can do to help RCC students, and this is sort
of more like it's breaking through the door of the
(02:46):
hackathon so we can get right next to the Harvard's
and mits of the world.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
That would be nice, right, So how is this all
then going to work, doctor Bowen? I mean, this is
part of the computer club. This is all happening here
in a couple of days. How exactly does this work?
Speaker 2 (03:03):
It's a journey, of course, But the hagathon plays out
in terms of the students actually arriving an hour before
the hack of Stan starts, which is going to be
at ten am, and then the hackathon launches at eleven am,
so they will have an opportunity for that hour to
get some housekeeping done and so I'll be facilitating that
(03:24):
and as individuals arrive, they will be given out packets
and given the instructions in regards to what is that
they actually have to do. But I would have to
say that prior to this, we actually have had the
opportunity to meet in what we call the Bubble. It's
actually a networking lab here on campus, so that it
(03:47):
is that students can get more information related to what
a hackathon is and what will be required of them.
But I will be remiss to state that the Hagathon
is not only for STEM related disciplines, but it's for
all students across campus that have an interest and actually
participating in a event such as.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Yeah, that's really cool, and like, let's talk about interest, Derek,
what are you hearing on campus from your peers and
how much interest have you seen so far in this?
Speaker 3 (04:14):
The average answer is I always get it is a hackathon,
But once I start explaining it into the my colleague
students and everything, they start to get more interests of it,
especially as we're going on into the future. Think about
how employment it's going to be twenty years from now,
so it's sort of like a requirement, you know, So
(04:35):
just trying to get them more explain to the how
it's really more of a fun activity, because as soon
as a student here is it, they automatically always hacking
is too much typing, coding. I don't have the skill
to get very intimidated, And it's like, no, no, no,
you don't. You don't have to be intimidated by it.
You can learn from it can be fun, and the
more you do it, it can be creative with it,
(04:56):
turn yourself into an innovator.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Right, I mean, and there's all sorts of ways to
make it a bit easier. It's not like you're writing
DOS code from twenty years ago or whatever, writing C
or like me eons ago. We won't talk about how
long ago it was, you know, making my GeoCities page
and teaching myself HTML. Things are very very different these days.
And I think doctor Bowen, that accessibility makes it a
(05:19):
little bit easier to get more people into STEM fields.
Do you think it depends?
Speaker 2 (05:24):
The keyword is intimidation, right, So people think about STEM
they either have a passion forward or they shy away
from it. And so where the accessibility actually comes into
the portion of communicating it broadly in terms of gathering interest,
is just having an ongoing conversation regarding what the possibilities are.
(05:47):
And so as a matter of fact, I have four degrees,
but I'm actually OURCC student as well, so I'm going
for a mathematics degree to tie into the Information system
Technology department in terms of different types of degree programs
that we are playing the offer in the future. So
you know, uh, the intimid Once the intimidation is stripped away,
(06:10):
what typically ends up happening is there are more questions,
but then with the more questions becomes opportunities for that
conversation to continuously be promoted.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Yeah, and Derek, you brought up a good point looking ahead,
even not just twenty years to the future. Right now,
digital literacy is so important even if you don't necessarily
want to go to college, if you want to go
in the trades, whatever it is you want to do.
I mean, tell me a little bit about how you're
seeing people your age embracing digital literacy.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
So I think they're embracing it on a social media level, Okay,
but when it comes to say like creating a web
page or you know, one start a YouTube channel, they
always have to go to somebody and that's and it's like,
you don't have to You don't have to go to
a middle a middle man like you can. It's gonna
(06:59):
take you five man to learn this and you can
do it and get creative with it. We have someone
like going back to the access accessibility, got YouTube tutorials,
you got Chad DBT, you got all AI vehicles where
it makes it impossible for anybody to not achieve.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Let's talk a little bit about these specifics of the event.
So this is happening on the twenty eighth, tell us
you know who what when we're why? How people can
get involved? If an RCC student is listening right now
and thinking, oh my gosh, I think I want to
do that, I'm super scared, but I kind of want
to try, how can they get involved?
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Well, they can always contact me at Empty Bowing at
RCC dot mass at edu to find out more information.
Derek also is almost always here actually facilitating resource tables
and just throughout the hallways in between classes speaking to
his peers in regards to it. And so from the
(07:58):
perspective of contacting myself and or Derek, you can place
a phone call at A five seven uh seven oh
one thirteen fifty three and get in contact with me immediately.
But from the perspective of actually just broadcasting this out
and its entirety, students and or anybody within the community
(08:22):
really and truly can you know, really just stop by
or email me or contact me via phone so that
it is that they can find out more information. We're
looking for sponsors for for swag. We are okay if
anyone who wants to donate food, that would be awesome
because that's a big draw. Our students love food. I
(08:46):
think all college students do.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
It's kind of a requisite anxiety.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
So you know, we're here more often than not, and
so a quick email will be a dually taken into
effect and responded to within a decent amount of awesome.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
And you know, Derek, I mean for people who are
your age who want to get involved in the Computer
Science Club or any other programs on campus that might
involve this sort of thing. What's your advice.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
I don't think kids do. Don't think kids do. Yeah,
if you if you invest in everything else, if you
go to work and clock in, you can you can
invest in yourself to better yourself for the future. Because
one thing I was talking to doctor Boeen about and
I always told them, like, you know, we're making history
right now because RCC never had a hackathone before, so
(09:38):
this is gonna be our very first hackathone. Then as
we progress, then we'll probably be on some more dexter
laboratories dollars doing gates stuff. But right now we're just
kicking the door down. We're making we're making our own
room for RCC's hackaphone.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Yeah, no, trust me, I prefer RCC's lab over Dexter's laboratory.
It's probably about well, this is phenomenal news. I love
this so much and I really hope it just goes
so swimmingly and so easily. So Doctor Bowen and Derek,
good luck, and I wish you all the best in
this event.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Have a wonderful warm weekend, stay warm and cozy, and
be sure to join us again next week for another
edition of the show. I'm Nicole Davis from WBZ News
Radio on iHeartRadio.
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