1,928 Miles Away: Bringing Student Communities Together
Date: 10/01/2023
By: Deniz Jasarbasic
Introduction
In October 2023, I traveled to Monterrey, Mexico with the Dean of Engineering from my university, his team, and a fellow student hackathon organizer and close friend, Devon Knight. We were sent as a delegation to represent the University of Ottawa’s (uOttawa) international partnership efforts and meet with a group of students we had been working with virtually since early June.
Background
The Faculty of Engineering had been a huge champion of our annual student-organized hackathon, uOttaHack. In particular, Dean Jacques Beauvais and his team believed in our vision, offered invaluable guidance, and played a key role in opening doors to countless opportunities. From connecting us with faculty and industry partners to providing campus resources, they allowed us to focus on delivering the best possible event for students.
When they came to us with an opportunity to expand our event internationally, we jumped at the chance to bring the spirit and name of uOttaHack to even more students. They connected us with Tec de Monterrey, a university they had been working with for a long time on academic projects and partnerships, which had a group of students eager to build their own hackathon community. We set up an initial chat and instantly clicked. We saw the same fire and passion that had driven us to restart uOttaHack a few years ago and knew we wanted to work together.
Collaboration
We helped them grow their hackathon community from 0 to 1, focusing on building hype, event logistics, sponsorship, and marketing by sharing resources and advice on what worked for us and which hurdles to avoid early on.
We also worked to synchronize aspects of our events. The idea was to host our hackathons at the same time while streaming key activities, such as sponsored technical challenges, workshops, and various other events. This created unique opportunities for students to work together across borders, combine ideas and perspectives to build the best projects, and connect with companies and international opportunities.
Why It Worked
We were extremely fortunate to work with such a talented, driven, and fun group of students. Throughout this experience, they brought a ton of new ideas to the table, were easy to work with, and pushed us both to organize the best versions of our events. While we were in Monterrey, they made us feel very comfortable and welcomed. They gave us a tour of their campus, introduced us to all of their friends, and showed us many local spots across the city, from food to landmarks and even student nightlife :) I feel incredibly lucky to have met such a warm group of students. Many I can call lifelong friends.
These interactions mattered so much. They build strong team chemistry and trust. When that trust exists, work becomes natural and easy. During that week, we organized a ton of ideation sessions, planned the entire logistical aspect of an international event, and solidified a strong joint vision for our events.
Here’s a photo dump of some great moments caught on film:
Conclusion
I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to travel and represent uO internationally and build something amazing with this group. If you’re curious check out our feature on uOttawa’s LinkedIn, the event’s project gallery, and the event photos. But why stop here? We see a huge opportunity to scale this vision beyond two school. Looking ahead, we hope to expand uOttaHack further and be a part of the growing global hackathon and startup community.