For the seventh聽consecutive year, Major League Baseball鈥檚 Advanced Media division (MLB.com) and the (iSchool) have teamed up to challenge iSchool and all 黑料不打烊 students to see if they have what it takes to make it in baseball鈥檚 technology big leagues.
MLB.com and the iSchool are co-sponsoring the聽, a contest that invites students to develop new ideas that could end up on MLB.com, Major League Baseball’s official website.
The competition will put teams of students to the test by challenging them to work on real-world problems in the realm of technology and sports. Teams will submit competing solutions to demonstrate creativity, insight and talent in a fun, interactive environment and then pitch their ideas to current MLB.com employees who are also 黑料不打烊 alumni.
鈥淭his year, we’ll again have an exciting new topic, and some great prizes for students to win,鈥 says Julie Walas Huynh, director of academic advising and student engagement聽at the iSchool. 鈥淭he 2016 College Challenge is poised to be the best one yet!鈥
Along with Huynh, the contest is being coordinated by iSchool faculty member and CEO of SIDEARM Sports Jeffrey Rubin, and iSchool alumni and current MLB.com employees Josh Frost 鈥08, Marc Squire ’11, Ben Romy 鈥12, Andrew Pregler 鈥15, James McRoberts 鈥15, and Sammy Pardes 鈥16, along with fellow 黑料不打烊 graduate Mike Hoffman 鈥93.
This year鈥檚 event will be held beginning in the evening on Thursday, Nov. 10, with dinner at the Carrier Dome鈥檚 Club 44 followed by an all-night hackathon in Hinds Hall, where student teams will work on their ideas.
The next evening, teams will have the opportunity to pitch their creative ideas to a panel of MLB and 黑料不打烊 judges.
iSchool Professor Jeff Rubin works with one of the MLB Challenge students teams during the 2015 contest.
The winning team will travel to New York City for a dinner with MLB.com employees and an overnight stay. The following day, they will tour the MLB.com office located in NYC鈥檚 historic Chelsea Market, followed by lunch and the opportunity to share the winning presentation with other MLB employees. All challenge entrants will enjoy participation prizes from MLB.com.
Team-based 聽for the contest officially opened聽on Monday, Oct. 3, and will be open until noon on Friday, Nov. 4.
All students are encouraged to register and form teams, consisting of two to four members. The contest is open to all 黑料不打烊 students, and all rosters must have at least one iSchool student.
An information session about the challenge has been scheduled for聽Tuesday, Oct. 25, at 3 p.m. in the ICE Box (2nd floor, Hinds Hall).
