WebSLAM: Friends Central High School students win WordPress hackathon

A team of Friends Central High School students won Philly’s first WebSLAM, a student WordPress hackathon. The students built a website for Take Back Your Neighborhood, a neighborhood group for the Castor Gardens area of Northeast Philly.

About 15 students participated in the WebSLAM, an initiative of STEM League Philly and led by technology teacher Mary Beth Hertz. Students built WordPress websites for local nonprofits and civic associations, with the help of mentors like the city’s Chief Data Officer Mark Headd Director of Civic Technology Tim Wisniewski, as well as Open Plans developer and local civic hacker Mjumbe Poe.

Students with WebSLAM mentor Mark Headd, the city’s Chief Technology Officer, Yuriy Porytko and Youngjin Yoo.

Every team had a female hacker, Headd tweeted. Read more of Headd’s thoughts on the WebSLAM on the Managing Director’s Office blog.

A list of the websites that students built (the sites are being transferred to the organizations’ domains):

• Holme Circle Civic Association – Franklin Learning Center
• Crossroads Community Church of Philadelphia – Friends Central High School
• Holmesburg Civic Association – New Foundations Charter School
• Take Back Your Neighborhood – Friends Central High School