NOCTILUCA March 2018

FEATURES Appleton, Wisconsin March 2018 Vol. XXIII

Issue IV

Page 5

AYEI organizes ‘Hack Appleton’ first annual Appleton Hackathon

By Forrest Bomann

AYEI decided to host a “hack- athon.” These events, which participants often characterize as addictive, involve groups of individuals productively col- laborating on a computer sci- ence-related project for prizes. At hackathons hosted by com- panies and universities across the globe, coders collaborative- ly create unique solutions for problems or innovate newways, such as the creation of the Face- book “like” button at a company hackathon. The AYEI’s free hackathon will be held in the Appleton North commons on Sunday, April 8 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Teams of four from around Northeastern Wisconsin will compete in designing websites for hypothetical businesses. Technical expertise or previous programming experience is not necessary for participation in the event. Winning teams will be able to display the legitimacy of their computer science skills on applications as well as win

By Henry Ptacek The Appleton Youth Edu- cation Initiative (AYEI) is stu- dent-driven organization that leads various projects that en- gage with students in Appleton schools and the broader Fox Cities community to help pre- pare high school students for adult life and education after high school. Students from all Appleton schools are welcome to apply to join the AYEI Ex- ecutive Board. Alumni of this organization have gone on to study at Harvard, Yale, Stan- ford, MIT, Williams, Brown, Washington University in St. Louis, Northwestern, West Point, UW Madison, and the Cleveland Institute of Music. Those admitted for their clear potential for commitment to the Initiative then engage with local leaders to produce plans of ac- tion to empower other students to accomplish their educational goals. Such plans have included community and student mentor- ship programs, college mentor- ship programs, a district-wide When was the last time you took any heed to a homeless person? Perhaps when you last visited Chicago?When you read about it in an online article? The odds are it is not often, and that is okay. This, however, does not mean it is not an issue, in fact our very own Appleton schools can see almost 300 homeless people a year. The exhibit “(In)visible” is a local phenomenon happening in the Fox Cities. In this exhibit, homelessness in Appleton is brought to light. The premise of the project is to delineate the experiences of homeless people in the Fox Cities by giving them cameras to capture everyday occurrences. It was curated by Emily Rock of the History Mu- seum at Castle for the commu- nity at large to raise awareness of the issue of homelessness. If your housing situation is at risk, reach out to social worker Lisa Hunt at huntlisa@aasd.k12. wi.us

prizes including, but not limited to, Surface Pros, Xbox Ones, cash, and scholarships, and all those who participate will have food and beverages provided, as well as free t-shirts and other swag. The judging panel decides upon three winning teams, and speeches open to the public will be given by firms such as Mi- crosoft, Correlation One, Stellar Blue, and Skyline Technologies. Competitors and the public will hear the perspectives of special- ists on the importance of com- puter science, as well as be able to make personal connections with those in the technology in- dustry.

An ACT prep class organized by AYEI. Photo courtesy of AASD

test preparation book drive, and hosting ACT practice sessions. TheAYEI brings a new and cre- ative perspective on how to ap- proach preparation of students for educational opportunities beyond high school. Recently, the AYEI began a new project to challenge and reward students for their interest in the field of computer science. With the significant growth of the technology industry, tech- nological literacy and an un-

derstanding of how computers work have become imperative in our society; however, engag- ing in programming or hav- ing an intensive understanding of how technology works can seem to be a daunting task. Seeing how few activities ex- ist in Northeastern Wisconsin for students to actively engage in computer science and under- standing the necessity for those in high school to be technologi- cally literate, members of the

Most importantly, it shows the human side, what most com- munity members could never understand. This exhibit is a traveling work of art, making rounds to area schools, churches, librar- ies, government buildings, non- profits and community centers. The History Museum at the Castle has brought many com- munity projects together in the form of exhibits such as this one. They allow them to travel from school to school, church to church, spreading the message that they hoped to convey. For the exhibit “(In)visible” the His- tory Museum partnered with, Project Rush, Homeless Con- nections, Housing Partnership of the Fox Cities, COTS and Fox Valley Warming Shelter. The content of the exhibit was a compilation of a lot of work put together by home- less people and these agencies. The pictures were provided by homeless people in the area, and the Housing Coalition provided interviews of many homeless people about their current state and how they reached it. The Housing and Urban Develop-

ment program provided data for the exhibit. The culmination of these factors created a powerful display of humanism. This very exhibit could have been seen at Appleton North in the LMC, and presentations were given to increase aware- ness of homelessness in our schools. Lisa Hunt, AASD’s Home- less Education Social Worker can be seen all over the school district, providing resources to those in need as well as unpack- ing an often overlooked issue. Her position requires her to be close to downtown, where the homeless aid agencies are locat- ed. Her office is inside ofWilson Middle School. She says her day-to-day operations can in- clude working with families to find ways to get their children to school by providing busing or gas cards. It can further include working with the aid agencies to find housing and resources for homeless students. This exhibit, the work done by Hunt, and the work done by the agencies gives hope to solve the issue of homelessness in Appleton.

Caption from exhibit (In)visible: “Homeless man on bench at a park.” -Keith Photos courtesy of History Museum at the Castle

“I go here many times when I need to be alone for a while. Sometimes my little corner of the world gets the best of me.” -Allen

“My home. Starting June 2015 I started collect- ing Social Security. With the back pay the courts awarded me, I purchased this mobile home in Little Chute on October 1, 2015.” -Todd