GitHub Introduces Hack Club’s Summer of Making for Kids

With students losing access to school facilities and community maker spaces, internships canceled, and connectivity feeling harder and harder in quarantine, students are searching for ways to build community and continue to pursue their passions. 

Join the Summer of MakingGitHub is partnering with Hack Club to support the students behind Summer of Making, a new remote, student summer program. From building Arduino-powered robots to creating an open source game, GitHub is excited to see students channel their passions and build with the Hack Club community this summer. 

Summer of Making is open globally to teenagers age 13-18 and entirely free. Running for six weeks starting in early July, students will have access to hardware on a needs basis (shipped directly to their home) and guidance from industry mentors. GitHub has committed to a $50K hardware fund, globally and is working alongside Arduino and Adafruit on delivering the hardware tools directly to students’ homes. For those that do not get a spot in “Summer of Making”, they can join the Hack Club community to stay active on the latest activities going on locally and globally.

Summer of Making is the brainchild of teenagers from Hack Club, a network of after-school computer clubs led and organized by students, for students. Hack Club gives students the support and community they need to explore their interests in technology. All Summer of Making participants will have the opportunity to build connections within the entire Hack Club community and showcase their projects at the end of the summer. Students also have access to: 

• A network of 400+ Hack Clubs chapters, across 22 countries around the world

• Free access to the best developer tools with the Student Developer Pack

• Funding for hardware (as needed basis) from GitHub

• Prototyping tools and support from Adafruit and Arduino 

• Mentorship from industry professionals 

Pre-register for Summer of Making is open now and the applications begin on June 18th.  

Mentor the next generation of makers

Hack Club’s Summer of Making provides teens with resources to make their large passion projects a reality, for free. GitHub is looking for mentors from around the globe to support this year’s participants. 

The mentor will meet with a student for half an hour every week for six weeks. The mentor’s role is to keep the student on track with their project, provide feedback, and even give some technical guidance here and there. Everyone from engineers to project managers are encouraged to apply and become a mentor.

In the words of Shubhangi Gupta, a 22-year-old alumni Hack Club member from India, “Hack Club provided me the peer support I was lacking and the platform to guide students. We have been exploring technologies, organising workshops and participating in hackathons together, which has been a learning experience. Through the program, I’ve learned more about competitive coding, started with machine learning and explored new cloud tools. Additionally, we’ve discussed best interview practices and some vocal exercises, so we are best prepared for our placements in the following semester.”

Hack Club helps students think bigger, connect to people who share their interests, and discover their passions in technology. Let’s get buildin