by: Ivan Habib
National Editor
On Sept. 5th, 2026, Los Gatos Hacks returned for its fourth annual student hackathon, gathering more than 100 students from over fifteen local schools. These aspiring programmers participated in a day of collaboration, learning, and problem-solving. Months of preparation and planning led by Los Gatos High School students created an event filled with workshops, hands-on mentorship events, and rapid prototyping.
Seniors, Eric Hou, Mehul Patel, Abhinav Namboori, Evan Zhao, Ming Ying, and Julian Juan spearheaded the initiative. They raised over ten thousand dollars in sponsorships and prizes for participants by collaborating with large STEM partners like the Art of Problem Solving, Desmos, and Hack Club.
This year’s theme, “Technology for Local Impact,” challenged the participants to build practical solutions for problems they saw in their own communities. Under the guidance of many industry experts leading coding workshops, students learned how to build prototype solutions to the problems they identified across eight hours of hacking. Teams addressed many issues ranging from food waste and commute delays to AI-assisted study tools.
Sounds of students brainstorming, debugging code, and preparing their presentations filled the afternoon. To wrap up the event, the hackers presented their solutions to a panel of industry experts who graded them on technical execution, originality, and civic value. The first place prize went to Neighborly, a platform built to connect residents with nearby volunteer needs and help support local community projects, created by juniors Aarav Iyer, Rohshi Desai, Oliver Lee and Kaedown Wang.
Hou, founder of Los Gatos Hacks, explained his awe: “Even though this is my fourth year running Los Gatos Hacks, it still amazes me how much students can create in just one day when they’re given a place to start [from] and the freedom to take an idea into a solution.” Outreach Director Patel explained that “after months of planning, it was honestly pretty surreal to stand in the center and watch everything we had worked on actually happen. … By the end of the day, it felt like all the emails, outreach, and preparation had turned into something much bigger than just a competition and more like a community.”
With the current senior organizers preparing for college, the team is looking to transition leadership onto a new set of students. Patel explained that their goal is to “pass forward the torch and [see] new students build upon the mentorship network and partnerships we’ve built,” ensuring that Los Gatos Hacks can continue for many years to come.