Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) held the Academies Hacks 2026, a free two-day hackathon, on April 25th and 26th at the Academies of Loudoun. Approximately 250 students from across LCPS participated in the event, with this year’s theme being “Cloning.”
The event was open to all middle and high school students, whether an experienced coder looking to compete for prizes or a beginner interested in building their first project. Participants attended workshops, collaborated with other students, and competed for awards, including gaming consoles and tech gear.
Atharv Dhore, a senior at the Academies of Loudoun, competed in the event last year and helped organize this year’s Academies Hacks. He said, “Academies Hacks was an amazing experience, and helping to host the hackathon taught me many new skills. As the hackathon website lead, I was able to achieve accomplishments such as attracting over 1,000 visitors to the website.”
This year's Hackathon was supported by LCPS and the Loudoun Education Foundation (LEF) and was sponsored by Microsoft and GT Edge AI. While the participants' projects were being judged, GT Edge AI led the teams through a game of Capture the Flag. A full list of winners and their projects can be found online.
"Our workforce now requires a high degree of AI literacy, critical thinking, problem solving and analytical skills,” said Tom Bendien, Founder and CEO of GT Edge AI. “These skills are developed via experiential learning, such as the AI Hackathon. Industry support for our schools yields great benefits in terms of fostering learning, talent pipeline development and community relationships."