After receiving the information, Aron went straight to his dorm. After reaching his dorm, he told the System to summarize whatever was in the pamphlet as he was too lazy to read whatever was in it.
『 Ding! Summarized Information is as follows: 』
『 Name: Annual Fall Hackathon 2013 』
『 Theme: Health Care 』
『 No. of Team Numbers: 1 to 5 』
『 Problem Statement: You can choose any appropriate problem of your own and propose a solution. 』
『 Rewards:
First Place-$10,000
Second Place-$5,000
Third Place-$2,000 』
『 Solution: Any Type 』
『 Chief Guest: David Armstrong, Director of Department of Orthopedics, Cambridge Health Alliance, Cambridge, MA, USA 』
"Oh... Health Care huh... I need to figure out a problem now..." muttered Aron as he sighed with some weird emotion.
Choosing a proper Problem would either make or break the chance of winning. Choosing a generic problem and giving a generic solution won't cut. You would mostly be disqualified.
He then looked at the chief guest and saw that they were from the Department of Orthopedics. He suddenly thought of an idea and started working on the problem statement.
After about an hour of deliberation, he finally chose the best version of the problem statement he had come up with.
Now time for Teammates. He wouldn't choose the ones he did back in his previous life. He couldn't choose his friend Theo since he had already gone on his own path.
After thinking about a bit, he chose to apply on his own. He, as the Director of Data Analysis and Cryptography, clearly knew how much difference can a team create compared to the efforts of a single person.
But he didn't have time to choose people for his team. He also didn't want any conflict of opinions. This is why all companies have teams and a team leader, who can manage people.
Management is important to synchronize the efforts and skills of each and every person on the team.
He didn't have enough time to convince people he was qualified to become their leader. Therefore, he decided to go on his own.
But he didn't know that other than him, no other team registered with only one member. Each team at least had two members.
Only he was the odd one who would go to a hackathon without a proper team sice teamwork was also one criterion for evaluation of the candidates.
After thinking of it properly, he took the piece of paper he had scribbled his problem statement on and head towards the staff room.
•• •• •• •• •• •• ••
Time was around 12:10 PM, and Mr. Ryan Williams was tired of evaluation of the recent exam booklets. He was about to go out to get fresh air when the door of his cubicle opened and a young man entered.
The young man was obviously Aron.
Aron smiled and politely greeted: "Good Afternoon, Mr. Williams. I am here to speak with you."
Ryan smiled back gently and spoke: "Good Afternoon to you, Mr. Clark, What is the matter?"
The way Ryan spoke was a bit unsettling to Aron. This teacher spoke like he was afraid of him. Aron wondered if he had ever scared his proctor. Recalling no such moments, he decided to leave the matter rest for now and proceeded to speak.
"Mr. Williams, I would like to apply for the Hackathon this weekend."
"Sure, Mr. Clark. I wonder where your teammates are..?"
Aron replied in a calm tone: "I am participating in this Hackathon alone, Mr. Williams."
"Mr. Clark, that might become a problem since one criterion for evaluation is teamwork. It would be marked as null since you don't have any teammates. So I recommend you to find some teammates."
"It is alright, Mr. Williams. I have decided to participate alone in this competition. I believe participation is more important than victory."
"A noble notion indeed, Mr. Clark. I will take care of the paperwork for your registration. Please provide me your problem statement, that would be enough."
After Ryan told that, Aron took out a piece of paper from his trouser pocket and handed it over to Ryan.
"This is my Problem Statement, Sir"
"Well Mr. Clark, I have received it."
"Thank you, Sir."
"You're welcome."
Aron bowed his head and left the cubicle and the staff room. After confirming Aron had left, twice, Ryan opened the piece of paper to see a few sentences written in messy handwriting.
He was shocked to see the problem statement. He started muttering:
"Wow! This problem statement sure is unique! It is not one of the generic ones students usually choose. Either this young man is a genius or an extremely lucky person to find this problem statement. How simple yet complex! I wonder how will his solution would be? I should probably call Davy and tell him not to miss this!"
He proceeded to open his phone, looked through the contacts to choose 'Davy' and called him.
As the receiver connected, a lazy voice came from the receiver's end.
"What do you want Ry? Don't you know I'm busy?"
"Busy? Hmph! You're probably lazing around in your AC cabin."
"Hahaha... *cough* so why did you call me?"
Davy seemed embarrassed and made a little coughing noise to hide it. He changed the subject.
"Well, the coming hackathon, you might be in for a surprise!"
Davy seemed intrigued on the other end.
"Why? Any interesting projects?"
"Yeah! But I can't disclose it to you though, since you are a judge after all. But I think you might like this one."
"Oh! If you say so. I wonder if it would really reach my expectations."
"I don't know much about the team that registered but by just their choice of problem statement, I think their solution might be quite amazing."
"Well, Ry you have piqued my interest! I loom forward to the coming hackathon! I wonder of we could get any fundable projects?"
"There are some, if the solutions are implemented in a unique and effective way, they can be funded but I have seen nothing that would stand out yet. Other than the one I mentioned before, of course."
"Oh! Ry! It seems a patient has come with severe injuries. I might have to check on. Later!"
"Later, Davy!"
Ryan hanged up the call with Davy. If anyone else would witness the call, they would be able to guess that the person named 'Davy' was indeed Mr. David Armstrong, Director of Department of Orthopedics, Cambridge Health Alliance and the Chief Guest of the Annual Fall Hackathon 2013.
It seemed like a few became interested in Aron's project before he even stared working on it.