webinar_notes.md

Webinar Notes!

These are a bunch of notes from questions that came up during our parent webinars

6/3/21

Vaccinations haven’t started yet in Greece, US doesn’t accept trips from Greece yet

We haven’t put a hard stop on the trip geographically, however that being said, we are requiring everyone to be fully vaccinated for the safety of the trip. As for visas… just to set expectations, a lot of the consulates are closed now.. Logistics restraint… we’ll be hosting online stuff from the summer. Greece has a visa waiver for the US…

Key components of the trip

1. Burlington Hack Club HQ, activities,

2. NYC

3. Chicago hackathon.. No competition… more like a coding festival (no internet it will force folks to socialize and collaborate) We’ll have guests and performers

4. LA

3 types of travel

1. Chartered bus - everyone is vaccinated

2. Amtrak - not everyone, masks required

3. Private car - everyone vaccinated, no masks required

Can students join at the stopovers?

Unfortunately no, this is an all or nothing trip for safety and logistics reasons

What can students bring?

Laptop and they can bring anything they want for projects but we are keeping the theme a secret

How is this totally free?

Individual philanthropists

2 Experiences

1. With chaperone

2. Freedom waiver - student has more autonomy

6/2/21

We are focusing on soul, experience and safety <3

What’s your criteria to select who would be on the train?

Those who will get a lot out of being on this trip - We’re looking at the entire sense of people who are coming and will have incredible conversations together

Will there be additional applications/interviews for students before selection is made?

Registration of interest form.. Deadline this Friday, announcement next wednesday, June 7

Once students are selected, they will be filling out more info

Will there be a curriculum for the trip or will it be more unstructured?

This will be the longest Hackathon ever done, no prizes, no internet

We want to foster an environment to talk and work together

Is it 42 selectees or 42 including chaperones

It’s 42 students plus 6:1 ratio staff

Trip is July 15-25

3 nights on the train, all are in hotels 2 to a room and gender separated, on the train they will be gender separated as well

Are chaperones vaccinated?

All chaperones are vaccinated

Should students bring their laptops?

Yes

Can they bring musical instruments and software?

We highly encourage musical instruments! Bring software

Tell us about the stops

NY, Chicago, SF and LA

How many students have applied so far?

Not released,

What about food fare

We care a lot about being accommodating to dietary constraints

Who are the political exiles?

We have a variety of people getting on and off the trip. Or philanthropist is coming on board, Tom Preston Werner and many more secret guests :)

What do you expect the ratio will be between girls and boys?

We’re expecting them to be about a third

Will you be reviewing students hack club participation in addition to their registration?

We want to invite students who will get a tremendous amount of benefit from this trip… and if they don't get chosen

Will international students be able to join?

We are open to it… you have to be vaccinated (you need to have 2 doses and have 2 week quarantine), we will not help with visas (most consulates are closed), and for international flights there might be a cap bec international flights are so expensive. We’re not closed to it, but from a logistics point of view, it just seems more constrained.

Will students wear masks on the train

NY - Chicago masks required on Amtrak

Chicago - SF not required on private train because everyone will be vaccinated

SF - LA masks required on Amtrak

Would you speak about medical care in case of emergency or illness?

We take medical care very seriously

Every stop has world class medical facilities/top notch hospitals Burlington, NYC, Chicago, SF, LA

Amtrak has thought extensively about how to make train travel very safe… how to handle medical emergencies .. staff are certified for emergency situations and we have 5 train staff who are well trained

Airport pickup and drop off.. We have a very small airport, they will not get lost.

5/31/21

What would be the set up for lodging?

Beds will be separated by gender on the train and in hotels

No connectivity, how do we reach out to the kids?

NYC-Chicago, Chicago-SF, SF-LA. Trains will have infrastructure constraint, hotel stopovers will have internet. Tina will be in Burlington as a dedicated point of contact for parents.

Age range

13-17

Will kids be fully vaccinated?

Yes

Have you organized events like this before?

1. In person hackathons every year

2. 2 years ago.. Flagship Canada/Mexico.. Flights housing covered, 3 day conference -Dedicated point of contact, pre-event calls

Will we know who the other students will be attending?

Yes

Will they wear masks?

On private train no, on Amtrak yes. In cities, we’ll follow city guidelines

Will they be chaperoned, how will they be travelling?

We’ll be giving a waiver for parents if they want to give their child freedom blocks

How many total students?

42

Medical plan? Doctor?

Best hospitals in the world in all of our city stops. Will there be a doctor on the train? Amtrak has well-trained staff for emergencies

What programs/technology are going to be used?…

we do not push languages/programs as a nonprofit.. We want to offer the best experience for kids, maybe push them past their comfort levels (ie hardware)

How much is the trip?

It’s free, we’re lucky to have philanthropists to support Hack Club

Hacker Zephyr is only going to happen once. Every year we do something new (no annual conference).. Every year is a special milestone.. When we think about choosing the 42.. We want the kids to get the most out of the trip

We’ll also be having online events