Teams from several San Joaquin County high schools, including Escalon High, recently used technology to tackle the state’s water problems at the daylong Hackathon at the San Joaquin County Office of Education.

The winner of the Cal Water Golden Spigot Award at the Second Annual H20 Hackathon was a team of four high school students from Tracy High School, part of the Tracy Unified School District. The winning team developed an app that converts information from a typical water bill into layman’s terms. It uses visual representations to help people monitor use and save water.

Twelve teams from six county high schools participated: Tracy High School (three teams) and Merrill F. West High School (three teams), Tracy Unified School District; Venture Academy Family of Schools (three teams), San Joaquin County Office of Education; Stagg High School, Stockton Unified School District; Escalon High School, Escalon Unified School District; and Ronald E. McNair High School, Lodi Unified School District.

Organized by the San Joaquin County Office of Education (SJCOE) and iHub San Joaquin, the H20 Hackathon was held at the county Office of Education on Saturday, March 25. The competition provided students an opportunity to use the science, computer-programming, and problem-solving skills they learn in school to develop technological solutions in a setting that prepares them for the world after school.