Tech event exposes Oakland youth to virtual reality

By Nani Walker | September 7, 2016
The winning team, Beach Boys, develop a virtual reality application at WeAreCode VR Hackathon this weekend.

High school students filled the rooms at the East Oakland Youth Development Center over Labor Day weekend to learn about virtual reality technology. Among the 45 attendees was fourteen-year old Oakland-native Gabriel Sanchez, who participated on a team that was working to incorporate virtual reality (VR) technology in simulating the Oval Office. He said he…

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High school students gain computer science skills at Oakland Hacks

By Erika Alvero | February 22, 2016
Teams at OHacks brainstorm in the morning period of the day.

Oakland Hacks, or OHacks for short, is the first hackathon run by high school students in Oakland. A hackathon is an event at which people come together to create something through computer programming, from apps to websites. Sometimes they have a theme, a specific topic like music or sports, or participants will create something to be used for their community or to help the environment. OHacks does not have a theme like this, but its workshop format, with many mentors supporting students, focuses on getting beginners interested in computer science. OHacks is scheduled from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m., but other hackathons can last for 24 or 36 hours, or even a whole weekend.

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