Among the various new clubs Townsend Harris High School introduced this school year, Harrisites welcome Hack Club, a STEM club that focuses on teaching students interested in computer science.
Starting with the basics of programming and the fundamentals of computer science, the club aims to make learning about programming a fun experience, instead of just making people sit and read through a slideshow. They plan to do this by allowing students to engage in various interactive activities and projects, on sites such as Github, where they can create, share, and win rewards such as free boba or a drawing machine.
“I noticed a lack of options for computer science and electronics clubs that are not high-commitment activities,” said senior Isaac Wong, the founder and operations advisor of the club. “As a freshman, I would’ve loved to see a club like Hack Club that promoted self-exploration while still guiding me to become a better programmer.”
Senior Freddy Yu, co-president of the club said, “We believed Townsend Harris needed a space for people to explore their interests in programming, with support from a community of experienced coders.”
The club had no problems recruiting members, as the demand for programming was high among students throughout all grades – so it quickly became popular. Senior and co-president Derek Chan said, “Although we worked hard, we did not have a hard time attracting people since Townsend has been longing for a club like Hack Club for a long time.”
Junior Farhan Jamil,is one of many students who regularly attend Hack Club meetings. He said, “Hack Club is a great opportunity for students who are passionate about coding and technology [and it makes computer science] less intimidating.” Farhan, who is more familiar with computer science, finds Hack Club useful to “challenge myself and push the boundaries of what I can do with my programming experience.”
Hack Club isn’t just a school-based club– it’s part of a much larger program called Hack Club International, which has over 30,000 members across the world, in more than 40 different countries. Founded in 2014, Hack Club International is a non-profit organization run by teenagers that promotes hands-on computer science and STEM learning and provides funding for smaller run operations around the world.
Freddy elaborated on the support Hack Club International provides. He said, “They provide monetary support and recompensation for events, such as for the pizza party we threw in our second meeting, and deliver free items like circuit boards (OnBoard), game development consoles (Sprig), and even boba (BobaDrops) as part of workshops we call “Jams”.
Hack Club’s most recent events include their interest meeting, and their introduction meeting where students were introduced to GitHub and HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) coding, with pizza served.
While they have larger plans for the future, right now, their newest project is Boba Drops: build a website and get free boba.
