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Meeting of the minds: Microsoft hosts El Paso Strong Hackathon

El Paso Hackathon
El Paso Hackathon

EL PASO, Texas -- Microsoft hosted a three-day El Paso Strong Hackathon in response to the Aug. 3, shooting at the Cielo Vista Walmart. The event focused on building a stronger and safer El Paso.

The event started Friday Jan. 31 and lasted through the weekend.

Event organizer and computer science major at UTEP Malina Salazar came up with the theme of the event.

"I wanted to give other college students like myself opportunities to showcase their talents since we live in a city where not a lot of technology companies are here," said Salazar.

Microsoft Engineer Vanessa Feliberti told ABC-7 the hackers had three categories to choose from: education, community and safety.

"What they're doing is creating ideas, apps, solutions of how we can either prevent a tragedy from happening or how we can move forward and think about how we become stronger as a community," said Feliberti.

MinerLine was one of the several groups who participated. They worked on an SMS system created for emergencies.

"So you send a message and it gives you the number. For example, if you can't make the call , let's say you're being followed and you want to hide, you would send your name, location and they contact law enforcement," said a group member for MinerLine.

Another group was working on a website people can access for mental health information, while another worked on an app.

To learn more about Microsoft TechSpark, click here.

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Shelby Montgomery

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