AFCEA pilots its first "Engineer the Planet" Hackathon

 from AFCEA Signals

BELVOIR CHAPTER CHAPTER - Dec 16, 2021

The chapter is excited to announce its inaugural Escape the Planet hackathon event. Developed in conjunction with the AFCEA Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC) Student Chapter, AFCEA International, representatives from military academies and Fairfax County Public School faculty and high school students, Escape the Planet is a series of basic coding challenges built around a space exploration mission storyline. The challenge engages middle school students to assist the fictional Belvoir AFCEA Space Alliance (BASA) on their mission of discovery to Planet X to bring back recently detected evidence of "proof-of-life." This pilot effort was held December 16 - 17 and with support for ongoing coding curriculum being taught at each of the competing schools with the hope of seeding future interest and participation in Science Technology Engineering Arts & Math (STEAM) events.  As part of the ongoing mission of the chapter, grants are being offered to each of the competing schools to help further their STEAM curriculums. Upon receipt of their BASA support mission, students from Belvoir Upper School and Walt Whitman Middle School formed Mission Specialist teams. Each Mission Specialist team will have a Ground Support Team comprised of AFCEA NVCC students, AFCEA Emerging Leaders, U.S. Coast Guard Academy cadets and members of high school cyber clubs.  Students at Fort Belvoir Upper School in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, familiarize themselves with micro:bit devices that will be used in the Escape the Planet hackathon in December. Students at Fort Belvoir Upper School get a first look at micro:bit devices to be used in the Escape the Planet hackathon in December. Students use micro:bit devices in preparation for the December hackathon.