DeltaHacks celebrates 11 years of empowering students to innovate and create positive change across various fields through hackathon
On Jan. 11 and 12, 2025, DeltaHacks hosted its 11th annual hackathon for change in the Peter George Centre for Living and Learning, dedicated to empowering students to create positive change in their communities through projects in health care, sustainability, education and technology.
This year, approximately 500 people participated in the 24-hour hackathon, developing innovative projects while engaging in networking opportunities and workshops. After the event, participants presented their projects the following day to a panel of judges who evaluated them based on social impact, technical skill, originality and presentation.
DeltaHacks organizes four main hacking challenges, each focusing on a broad category such as best environmental hack, best productivity hack, best health hack and best community-building hack. Participants are encouraged to create projects that align with these categories.
Additionally, DeltaHacks hosted sponsor challenges, where sponsors organized specific hacks. In an interview, Parisha Nizam, co-president of DeltaHacks, mentioned that the National Society of Black Engineers and Procter & Gamble partnered on a challenge aimed at creating a financial app to help students in the Black community overcome biases when seeking financial assistance and resources.
In addition to the hackathon, DeltaHacks organized a variety of workshops, including sponsor-led sessions like the Dyson Fan Event, Apple Swift Challenge and an Introduction to Cohere workshop. Professional development opportunities were also offered, such as a Resume Roast and a guide to preparing a strong hackathon presentation. To foster community, DeltaHacks hosted fun activities, including a Fire Noodle challenge, karaoke night and late-night games.
Nizam highlighted that the hackathon kicked off with an opening ceremony featuring speeches from key sponsors, including Reserve Power, Swift, Manulife and Procter & Gamble, along with a performance by the McMaster Marching Band.
“Our team really worked hard on elevating the hacker experience. We worked hard on just making the overall organization better. I think our food choices were really good too. This year, we were also able to get an actual photo booth, where we had our own themed photo prints,” said Nizam.
Our team really worked hard on elevating the hacker experience. We worked hard on just making the overall organization better.
Parisha Nizam, Co-President
DeltaHacks
Nizam noted that DeltaHacks focuses on catering to the local community and collaborating with sponsors. According to Nizam, unlike many other hackathons that have a more general focus, DeltaHacks is specifically dedicated to creating positive social impact.
“We’ve seen people coming out of the hack saying they learned something new from the workshops they attended, or they gained new friendships, or they actually landed internships because of the sponsors that are there. There's a lot of opportunities for people to actually get something out of the hackathon while also having fun,” said Nizam.
We’ve seen people coming out of the hack saying they learned something new from the workshops they attended, or they gained new friendships, or they actually landed internships because of the sponsors that are there. There's a lot of opportunities for people to actually get something out of the hackathon while also having fun.
Parisha Nizam, Co-President
DeltaHacks
The project titled WhaleBeing won first place and the Dyson Innovation Challenge with their web app, which features a prediction model that maps how ship routes interact with blue whale habitats.
Nizam shared that, for the first time this year, DeltaHacks aimed to give back to the community by allowing the first-place winner to select a charity to receive a $500 donation. WhaleBeing chose to donate the funds to a whale conservation organization.
Nizam noted that while the hackathon is their main event, DeltaHacks encourages students to participate in club events and workshops held throughout the year. For more information, interested individuals can visit their Instagram page.
By: Areej Ali
This past November marked the launch of “Tax-Free Tuesdays,” an initiative proposed by McMaster Students Union president Ikram Farah during the 2018 presidential election.
The pilot project, created in collaboration with McMaster Hospitality Services, entailed offering students a 13 per cent discount at La Piazza during the month of November.
Farah initially created the initiative in effort to promote food affordability on campus.
“Food insecurity is real. The MSU invests in the operations of the MSU Food Collective Centre to offer immediate food support to students,” said Farah in a Silhouette article about the project from November.
With the winter semester coming to an end, McMaster Hospitality Services director Chris Roberts has confirmed that “Tax-Free Tuesdays” project will not continue in the future.
The aim was to have increased traffic flow in La Piazza, which would offset the financial losses resulting from giving students the discount.
According to Roberts, La Piazza did not see increased traffic in November.
“The data clearly showed that our transactions on the Tax-Free Tuesdays were no different than previous Tuesdays ,which resulted in a significant loss in revenue over the course of the pilot,” said Roberts. “This indicates that students continued their usual habits regardless of the discount.”
He cites Union Market’s elimination of their boxed water, suggesting that McMaster Hospitality Services must continue to operate in a financially responsible manner.
As such, the “Tax-Free Tuesdays” project will likely not resurface next year.
When asked for her comment on McMaster Hospitality Services’ decision, Farah did not provide a response to The Silhouette.
There is a lack of clarity with respect to McMaster students’ feedback from the project, including whether or not they believe there was sufficient advertising from the MSU.
Farah and the MSU have also yet to publicly respond to Roberts’ comments and McMaster Hospitality Services’ decision.
“I believe there are other initiatives that we could look at that serve the needs of students who are financially challenged that will not affect our financials in a negative way,” said Roberts.
An example of one such initiative is Bridges Cafe’s new “Cards For Humanity” program, a pay it forward initiative through which students donate to other students.
According to Roberts, students can expect to see various food accessibility initiatives emerge, but “Tax-Free Tuesdays” will no longer be one of them.
