Marathon Student Coding Sessions To Take Place in Four Cities

Students aged 9-22 will participate in a 24-hour event to learn about coding and experiment with demo-able projects as part of CodeDay, and event sponsored by StudentRND and Splunk, among others. Unlike other student hackathons or competitions, this one has no prizes; people take part to learn and have fun.

High school and college students from around the country will be gathering in multiple locations on Saturday and Sunday November 9 and 10 to participate in CodeDay, a 24-hour programming marathon that encourages them to "get together, make something cool, and become better programmers." The event is being put on by StudentRND, a non-profit focused on encouraging young people to get into technology. Current locations for the coding event are Chicago, Des Moines, Palo Alto, and Seattle.

Student coders work by themselves or as part of teams to create apps or games using any of several programming languages, including C#, C++, Java, Javascript, and PHP. The event runs from noon to noon, provides meals, and includes special sessions on programming and data use. On Sunday at 10 a.m. participants share their results and a team of judges chooses award winners.

Last year's winners included two games. In Running Blind the player is an explorer "shrouded in darkness who must navigate a labyrinth guided only by sound." In S.S. Halfling the player is a convict escaping from a sinking prison ship that's haunted.

Sponsors for the Silicon Valley event include Splunk, SAP, eBay, Amazon Web Services, Yahoo, and Gracenote. Other locations have other sponsors.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • Digital Network of User Profiles and Data Connections

    Microsoft, RSA Make Identity Security Push in the Age of AI

    Two of the bigger authentication announcements to come out of the recent RSA Conference both point in the same direction: Organizations need a more flexible, unified approach to identity security, especially as AI agents start acting alongside human workers.

  • AI logo near computer equipment

    White House Releases National Policy Framework for AI

    The White House has released a four-page AI policy framework aimed at setting a national approach to AI, with priorities including child safety, intellectual property protections, truth and accuracy guardrails, and worker training for an AI-driven economy.

  • Profile silhouette of a person thoughtfully touching their chin, overlaid with transparent data visualizations and digital interface elements suggesting artificial intelligence and analytics.

    The Institutional Knowledge Shift Is Reshaping Higher Ed IT

    Higher education IT leaders are navigating a quiet but consequential transition: Experienced team members are retiring or leaving for private-sector roles, and the teams replacing them are smaller, newer, and often stretched thin. The result is a structural shift in how technology decisions are made, executed, and sustained.

  • Abstract digital data stream with binary code and colorful light trails

    Microsoft Releases Open Source AI Safety Tools for Agent Development

    Microsoft released RAMPART and Clarity as open-source projects intended to help developers test AI agents earlier in the software lifecycle and turn red-team findings into repeatable engineering checks.