Team TechArmy, UHackademia 2019 Grand Winner, receive their prize from the organizers
Group photo of the participants of the UHackademia sponsored by the Union Bank of the Philippines
Students from the Institute of Computer Studies (ICS) and College of Engineering-Department of Computer Engineering won all three major awards during the UHackademia takes on Zamboanga event held October 11-12, 2019 at the Convention Room, East Wing, KCC Mall de Zamboanga.
TechArmy team of the Department of Computer Engineering from the College of Engineering; Team Jorgies of the Department of Information Technology (from ICS) and Team Dreame.rs of the Department of Computer Science (also from ICS) were hailed as champion, first and second runners-up, respectively.
UHackademia is a hackathon or a coding challenge funded by the Union Bank of the Philippines that brings together students and professionals from different courses to build creative technology solutions that will help solve or improve social issues/problems that the society is facing.
The champions, Team TechArmy, an all-girls group composed of BS Computer Engineering (BS CpE) students Riva Hazel Rada, Alvera Principe, Sitti Shana Maldisa, BS CpE alumna Chona Caspe, and BS Cpe Instructor Gillen Anne Lazareto, came up with an AirBnB-like application for parking spaces to help Zamboangueños find their ideal parking area. Users of the application can search for nearby available parking spaces.
Team Jorgies who came in as first runner up, pitched their technology solution called “Smart Barangay Management System” which aims to automate the business processes of all 98 barangays in the city, from residents profiling to issuance of barangay clearance and certificates, issuance of barangay ID, and to endorsing unsettled cases to proper agencies. The team is composed of third year BS Information Technology students namely John Lloyd Edios, Rey Elvin Saavedra, Joseph Harun, and Tristan Jay Amit.
The second runner up which is the Team Dreame.rs presented the technology solution called “Limpieza: Limpia kita con el Zamboanga”. It’s a waste management mobile and web application that monitors schedule of garbage collection. Through this app, the residents will receive an SMS or alert notification if the garbage truck is on its way or is near the residents’ place for collection of garbage. Concern citizens can also report through the app if there are uncollected garbage in their area. The report will then be sent to the barangay officials for immediate action. In the case that there is no action from the barangay officials, the resident can directly report to the Office of the City Enviroment and Natural Resources or OCENR. The OCENR, through the app, can also monitor the garbage collection performance of each barangay based on the report sent by the residents. This project was pitched by BS Computer Science major in Information Technology fourth year students Fatima Mercy Onrubia, Al-Fayeed Usman, Jhon Mark Ovalo, Emir Jo, Jr., and Anthony Villaflores, a BSCS alumnus.
Team Damce composed of Damhar Pahalawan, Zeth Kenneth Pungtod, Faizi Kiran and Nur-Radia Lagoyo, all BSIT III students, was among the finalists to pitch their technology solution to help eradicate Malnutrition in public schools.
Mr. Salimar Tahil, ICS faculty member, served as the mentor of the three teams from ICS (Jorgies, Dreame.rs, Damce) while Engr. Heidee Soliman, CpE Department Chairperson, served as the mentor for the CpE Teams.
All participants received Play Everyday card while winning teams also received cash prizes from the Union Banks of the Philippines.
UHackademia is co-presented by the Zamboanga ICT Council, Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Mindanao Cluster 1, City Government of Zamboanga, PLDT and KCC Mall de Zamboanga. (Liezel M. Parreño, WMSU-PAO)
