Carihi’s Mr. Bagley’s Bagels wins first prize at Campbell River’s first Youth Hackathon

Carihi’s Mr. Bagley’s Bagels, a team made up of Colby Ernst, Scott Henry, Franco Pellegrin and Riley Teramura, had one aim: to improve transportation options for youth. Their solution to implement a bike share program won them first place, a cash prize of $1,000 and the opportunity to present their idea to Council in June. Mr. Bagley’s Bagels gathered data to support their solution, addressed issues as to how to track lost or stolen bikes, how to cover costs, and completed two 3-D models of the design of the bike dock.
During Campbell River’s first-ever youth hackathon, in less than 10 hours, 28 students on five teams came up with ideas on how to make Campbell River a more youth-friendly place. This goal was identified by the City’s Youth Action Committee, made up of representatives from all the local high schools. Teams conducted research and programming (some of which involved very high level coding) and created 3-D models, websites and presentations and pitch summaries.
“The energy in the room during the presentations was inspiring,” noted Rose Klukas, economic development officer. “Teams had a good audience to hear their ideas and showed a lot of passion, knowledge and ambition about the issues they face today”.
Highlights of participant comments:
“Best part of the Hackathon were the mentors.” – Minahil Memon
“I would definitely come back next year because it was really interesting and I learnt so many new things.” – Areesha Memon
“I liked that you could create your own idea.” – Blake Cornish
“I really enjoyed that I could test my skills because I didn’t know we could accomplish so much so quickly.” – Caleb Haugen
Second prize winners, Timberline’s Monty Python’s Brainy Binary Boiz, Nicholas Hopkins, Ethan Posner, Isaac Morrow, and Loic Kliemann, coded and designed a local app that let youth easily host events and let others know about it. Third prize winners, Team Codex5, Blake Cornish, Caleb Haugen, Kalvin Kristianson, Coyote Mulholland and Tory Randle, designed a high-end arcade facility with retro and newer games, complete with a section for parents and programming for events and other user groups. Second prize winners took home $600 and third prize won $400.
Team Wasted Potential, won best team name and took on the problem of solid waste with their idea to ban single use plastics in Campbell River. Team 4G addressed the issue of Grade 8 and 9 students’ transition into the high school environment. Team solutions can be found at https://hackathon.campbellriver.ca/hackathon.
Mayor Andy Adams and city manager, Deborah Sargent, welcomed the teams, the Honourable Claire Trevena, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure and MLA for the North Island, stopped in to provide encouragement, and Lucas Schuller, on behalf of MP Rachel Blaney, joined the event as a guest judge.
The City of Campbell River thanks all judges: Chris Bjorklund, Jordan Ell, Riipen and Laurel Sliskovic, Sociable Scientists Inc. and all mentors, volunteers and event supporters. The City also acknowledges sponsorship support from: gold sponsors SuavAir, The Kammersgard Family Trust, Creative Industries Council, Izco Technology Solutions as well as David Baar, and in-kind sponsorship from Boleyn Media Group, Thrifty Foods and Riipen.