EY Hosts Successful BUILD LA Hackathon
BUILD LA’s inaugural Hackathon event hosted at EY’s Downtown LA office was a tremendous success! Thank you to Regional Advisory Board Member, Ahsan Ahmed, EY Managing Partner, Andy S. Park and all the other EY volunteers for their unwavering support for the day. Over 60 students from two of our partner schools worked with 15 EY volunteers to ideate, prototype, and pitch solutions for people affected by the Eaton Canyon and Palisades Fire earlier this year. The experience culminated in a pitch competition, resulting in four teams advancing to the final round. These exceptional students had the opportunity to pitch to a panel of impressive VIP Judges which included: JC Arce, Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Collidescope Foundation, Inna Tuler, Founder & CEO of Maintco Corp, Bridget Ahern, Partner of Ernst & Young, Angeline Vuong, Co-Founder & CPO of Cherub, & Aleksa Mara Dalton, Co-Founder & CEO of Boxxie.
The winning team was composed of three dynamic young women from San Fernando High School who developed ‘The Helping Hand’ app, an app that would act as a hub for all local fire relief and recovery resources. They dazzled the judges with their innovation, presentation, and professional skills. Below we have included a few quotes from our winning student team and their volunteers on the experience of the Hackathon.
Interview with BUILD Student Melody on her experience at the Hackathon!
“What I love most about the event is that I got to learn from so many other people. I enjoyed collaborating and meeting all these entrepreneurs.” Melody, San Fernando High School student.
“I learned how to network. And how to make contacts in a professional setting and how they can connect me to greater opportunities in the future.” Crystal, San Fernando High School student
“I met a lot of young students which was really exciting. I loved the energy of the room and how they were brainstorming solutions to big problems we all are facing. They had a lot of amazing ideas.” Anshika Walia, EY professional and BUILD volunteer.
