A group of RKYHS students attended the second yeshiva high school multi-day hackathon at Kohelet in Philadelphia, taking home two of the top three spots in the competition. Three RKYHS teams competed in the only North American Yeshiva High School Coding Hackathon, where 12 teams comprised of nearly 45 students from six schools across the country competed to address a problem using creative coding and design skills. The prompt they were given was to design an app that addresses the challenges of either a: choosing a yeshiva or seminary for a gap year in Israel or b: navigating the challenges of the gap year once they’re there or both. The teams had to put together a presentation, a set of wireframes and create a coded functional application. The teams were creative and professional while coding and developing presentations for 12 hours a day. Attendees also had the opportunity to hear from Kohelet parent Amir Goldman, who is managing director at Susquehanna Growth Equity, who spoke to the students at the Hackathon about “The Art of Pitching.”

Congratulations to two of the RKYHS teams who took home second and third place in the overall competition as well as the award for Best User-Interface for their projects entitled BizBuz and GapGuide. RKYHS is proud of all of the RKYHS student participants for their hard work, skill, tenacity and ingenuity.