More than 100 students from 40 different high schools throughout Ventura County stayed up all night as they competed in the annual Hackathon by the Sea last weekend in Camarillo. Participants spent an entire night creating apps and websites with the assistance of volunteer mentors.

Presented by the Ventura County Office of Education and the Hacker Fund, the Hackathon encourages students to use technology in creative ways to solve problems and engage users. At the end of the event, student teams presented their creations to judges, who awarded prizes.

Team from Nordhoff High School in Ojai Wins Grand Prize

The overall winner of the Hackathon was a team of three from Nordhoff High School in the Ojai Unified School District. They built a system that allows remote monitoring and interaction with plants or gardens from anywhere in the world. By using a special device, real-time data about the plants’ temperature and humidity is sent to the cloud, allowing bidirectional communication from any cell phone or computer. Users can see trends, set thresholds for text notifications, or even activate a solenoid valve to turn on a water pump. The device can reduce water waste, ensure the ecosystem stays healthy, and be scaled for use in the agriculture industry.

Congratulations to winning team members: Gavin Johnson, Orfeas Magoulas, and Caleb Sauceda, who are pictured below.

Honorable mentions went to two students from The High School at Moorpark College. They developed an app that matches students with advisors who can help them with academic subjects and other issues. Users create an account by entering their demographic information and the system matches them with a volunteer who is best able to help.

More information about the 2023 Hackathon by the Sea and the student projects that were developed is available here.