CruzHacks 2020: The Impact of Gen Z

CruzHacks returns on January 17-19. Over 900 “hackers” have registered to participate. Now in its 7th year, it is the premier and largest annual hackathon on the central coast. How did this all get started, and how has it changed through the years?

CruzHacks was formally known as HackUCSC, and launched in April 2014. The founders were Mark Adams, Brent Haddad, and Doug Erickson. There were 110 participants, with 2 prize categories: Tech Innovation, and TechCares. Tech Innovation: build something cool and geeky; TechCares: build something that has social and environmental goodness. 90% of the completed projects focused on Tech Innovation. The top 6 student teams shared $10,000 in prize money. The kickoff speaker was Lila Tretikov, winner of a Stevie Awards for Women in Business. Student teams had 1-2 mentors from the community. Within 3 weeks after the event, 82 of the participants were made job offers. It was a tremendous success for UCSC and the Santa Cruz community.

In 2015, the event grew. There were 300+ participants, AgTech was added to the prize categories, and $10,000 in prize money. The Santa Cruz community was all in with sponsoring community projects. There was also a strong focus on diversity, including female speakers, and all women-project teams. 22% of project teams were female. Participants from 8 universities, as far away as Ireland and Mexico City, traveled to hack. There was media coverage by Huffington Post. Sue Carter, Director of CIED at UCSC, joined the leadership team. Community TV covered the event. Roughly 20% of the projects were TechCares. Read more at 2015 CruzHacks.

By 2016, there were 900 participants at 2016 CruzHacks, and a mind-blowing $80,000 in prize money. And the TechCares prize category grew to 30%. Are you starting to see a trend here?

Time-warp to 2018. The hackathon is rebranded as CruzHacks. The event is managed by students, with oversight by the founders and a new board. And TechCares: more than 40% of the completed projects.

Jump to 2019. 90% of the completed projects were TechCares! Why? The Gen Zs are facing irreversible global warming issues, social injustice, and attacks on liberal democracy. Add to this, 75% of Gen Zs stress about the growth of mass shooting, separation and deportation of immigrant families, costly health care, and so much more (1). Is it no wonder that Gen Zs have less optimism than Millennials. And yet, look at the CruzHacks as a barometer of the Gen Z determination to solve some of these problems using tech and community involvement.

At CruzHacks 2020, we expect to see continued focus on social entrepreneurship or what we locals fondly call Zentrepreneurship. Santa Cruz Works and Santa Cruz Tech Beat will cover the event. Get involved by volunteering to be sponsor, mentor, or judge. Details at CruzHacks 2020 (scroll down the home page).