Learn 2 Build

What is Learn2Build?

Learn2Build is a nonprofit that offers a unique pathway for student engagement through its main service: an online and international hackathon competition that offers students the chance to build or present their hardware or software projects. The competition functions in a similar way to other hackathons available to collegiate level students however, the Learn2Build Hackathon offers a different caveat to high school students. As many collegiate level competitions work, many are gated by firstly, the level of education, but even more so by the complex competition topics and requirement of intricate and detailed knowledge learned in college classrooms inaccessible to the regular high school student. Instead of sponsoring an event that only followed the limiting factors of other competitions, the Learn2Build Hackathon puts no limits on the project topics, making it encouraging and open to any high school students with interests in the fields of robotics, programming, tech, and computer science. 

Instead of creating an atmosphere of harsh competition, Learn2Build builds a friendly and embracing community, still with the important aspects of competitiveness, that aims to foster and nurture students’ creativity and innovative thinking from around the globe. Especially with the number of gated competitions available, the team at Learn2Build wanted to ensure there was a space and a community for like-minded students with similar passions to gather and have a chance at participating and creating projects. On top of offering availability to participants who may only have a fundamental exposure and knowledge of the fields, the hackathon encourages them to sign up  because of its commitments to helping students connect. When students who may be a single participant are interested in joining, by signing up, the team at Learn2Build works to connect other single participants who share similar interests and make a new team that way. Instead of letting people be alone without a major amount of knowledge, Learn2Build makes the effort to ensure every student can collaborate and learn from other peers. 

The Hackathon presents a chance for students to learn more about their fields of interest by finding teams to work together on hands-on projects and to develop their collaborative, team working, and interpersonal skills. 

Meet the Founders: Matthew Mei and Danny Zhong

Matthew Mei is the Founder of Learn2Build, and together with his business associate and long time friend Danny Zhong, works on building a network of experts around Learn2Build but also a collection of sponsors and supporters for his project. For both of them, Matthew and Danny found their passions growing up loving and exploring the technology field and aspired to grow within it and expand their knowledge. However, in similar experiences, both saw the little opportunities that were easily accessible, especially when both Matthew and Danny were first exploring, to high school students, nonetheless high school freshmen. 

On one hand, Matthew continued his passion for tech and computer science and has participated in numerous scholarly programs including the MIT Beaver Works Summer Institute. Yet, even while being admitted into such a prestigious program, Matthew still believed that the accessibility of participation in the field for high school students had to be addressed. Through his platform and competition, Matthew hopes to close the gap in participation opportunities for other high schools and encourage more people to collaborate and learn with each other. For Danny, the lack of opportunities slowly drifted him away from a focus in tech and computer school but has led him to finding a passion for business and business relations. Still, Danny believes in the importance of tech and computer science in the future but takes an interdisciplinary approach to the organization by combining his experience and skills in business with his passion for the tech industry. 

Matthew and Danny have gone to extensive lengths to see their project’s mission fulfilled. In order to hold the competition, they sought out sponsors from prominent and large companies. Through numerous attempts and countless rejections, their team only improved on their efforts to reach out. Now, Learn2Build is sponsored by companies such as Desmos, NordVPN, and more and has raised over $5,000 in funding. Furthermore, the organization has networked and connected with a number of experienced field leaders, ranging from students at top universities, such as Yale, and employees at top tech companies such as Tesla.

Student Involvement

The team envisions that the platform and competition will be able to be held for many years with many possible avenues for expansion with the help of its supporters and sponsors. As the competition progresses and grows over years, Matthew and Danny hope to have the support of their supporters and extend further opportunities to the winners of their competition by pairing them with industry leaders and experts to continue working on and improving their projects after the competition is over. On another path, Matthew and Danny hope to expand their competition into different leagues that open opportunities to both high school students and collegiate students and expand into different school districts around the US and the world. If you are interested in participating in the Learn2Build Hackathon or would like to know more about the opportunities Matthew and Danny have to offer, they encourage students to reach out and ask more!