Charlotte middle-schoolers lift off toward careers in computers and coding

Winners of second annual Hackathon-For-Good travel to NASA Kennedy Space Center

June 24, 2025

The Bumblebees together with Charlotte Hornet Grant Williams after their presentation of “Families Forward Charlotte.”
The Bumblebees together with Charlotte Hornet Grant Williams after their presentation of “Families Forward Charlotte.”

Despite being a seventh grader at Providence Day School, Sydney Flatow arrived on the UNC Charlotte campus early on Friday, April 4. She and four other students, together having the team name “Bumblebees,” gathered alongside nine other middle-school student teams in the halls of the William States Lee College of Engineering. They all came to campus prepared for a full day of computer science creativity and competitive coding, called the “Grant Williams Family Foundation Hackathon-For-Good.”

Buzzing with excitement

In addition to Flatow, the Bumblebees included 6th graders Emma Trangsrud, Isabella Stewart, and Geraldine Rosa Marin from Oaklawn Language Academy, and Jay’Ceon Phifer from Walter G. Byers School. 

This team and all the others, each named for a different type of bee, entered the day of critical thinking with the challenge: do good for the community by solving a real world problem. Hackathon-For-Good participants were motivated not just by love of computer science but also the promise of a secret grand prize to the top winner.

Middle-school students from across Charlotte arrive at UNC Charlotte
Middle-school students from across Charlotte arrive at UNC Charlotte.

The student teams each proceeded to identify a social need in Charlotte, then design and develop a smartphone app framework to address it. The keyboards began buzzing with creativity and coding.

Hours later, the Bumblebees launched their presentation with team member Phifer stating, “We built ‘Families Forward Charlotte’ because we want to end intergenerational poverty.” This user-friendly mobile app empowers families in Charlotte to easily locate and access vital resources and donation drives. 

“Everyone’s always looking for resources and community drives, right?” asked Phifer, referring to the team’s motivation. So they designed, “something useful to families around Charlotte.”

The students were encouraged to use artificial intelligence tools throughout the project. Finally, the teams presented their projects to a group of judges from the Charlotte business community, allowing the students to practice their communications skills.  

Growth of Hackathon-For-Good

Hackathon-For-Good supports student interest in computer science and coding.
Hackathon-For-Good supports student interest in computer science and coding.

Hackathon-For-Good is hosted by the Grant Williams Family Foundation together with the W.S. Lee College of Engineering. The 2025 second annual event was led primarily by the Foundation, which was founded by NBA player Grant Williams. 

The competition is an extension of the Foundation’s Live to Learn Mentorship Computer Science Coding Afterschool Program, which was started in 2022 at Walter G. Byers School. One of the participants, a seventh grader named Shirstopher Ulloa asked if he and his afterschool friends could apply coding to solve community based problems. His idea evolved into the inaugural Hackathon-For-Good on April 7, 2024, with a curriculum developed by software engineer and UNC Charlotte alumnus Gabon Williams ‘20 M.S. Cybersecurity. Gabon Williams, brother of Grant Williams, also serves as the Foundation’s Executive Director. 

In its first year, the event drew 20 student participants. The 2025 event, in only its second year, more than doubled to 50 middle schoolers, reflecting the interest among students in both computer science as well as the community.

From mouse pad to launch pad

At the end of a long day of typing code and computer programming, Flatow and her team Bumblebee partners were proud of their work and excited for the award ceremony. “The Hackathon-For-Good was amazing. I loved the system of how it worked, but also how well everything was planned,” said Flatow.

Competition winners, the “Bumblebees,” their parents, Grant Williams and Teresa Johnson, William’s mother, in front of a space shuttle’s main engines.
Competition winners, the “Bumblebees,” with their parents, Chinyelu Williams and Teresa Johnson (Williams’ mother) in front of a space shuttle’s main engines.

Meanwhile, the partners of the Foundation and the College of Engineering were ready to celebrate the students and recognize their hard work. For their coding skills, creativity and teamwork, the Bumblebees were announced as first place winners. Only then did they discover the secret grand prize was a trip to the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida. 

Once the school year ended in June 2025, Team Bumblees traveled with great anticipation, and several adult chaperones, to Florida for a STEAM experience of a lifetime. Once on the NASA campus, the students enjoyed access to actual space-tested vehicles, immersive experiential simulations, and hands-on activities with rocketry equipment.  As a highlight, they even got to meet an actual astronaut candidate.

At the end of the weeks-long competition and reward experience, Bumblebee Flatow shared her appreciation with the Grant Williams Family Foundation. “Thank you for working so hard to make the trip to the Kennedy Space Center an unforgettable experience,” she said. “Everything about the trip was amazing, and a few of my favorite things was the Apollo exhibits and the Atlantis exhibits.” 

The grand prize of a visit to the Kennedy Space Center served as a perfect launchpad for future Bumblebee careers in computer science.

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About the Program
In addition to Hackathon-For-Good, the Live to Learn Mentorship Computer Science Coding After School Program hosts basketball camps, the Live to Learn Financial Literacy program, scholarships and more. For more comprehensive information, visit Grant Williams Family Foundation.

About Grant Williams 
Grant Williams, a Providence Day School alumnus, is now a current NBA player for the Charlotte Hornets as forward. Prior to the Hornets, Grant played for the Dallas Mavericks in 2023 and for the Boston Celtics for 4 years where he was drafted in 2019. Before his time in the NBA, Grant played D1 at the University of Tennessee where he was the two-time back-to-back SEC Player of the Year and led his team to a Sweet 16 appearance. Outside of the court, Grant takes huge pride and places high importance in building equitable ecosystems both inside and outside of the NBA. Grant currently serves as the First Vice President of the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA). Grant also founded the Grant Williams Family Foundation in 2019 with the hopes of empowering underserved students to realize their fullest potential. For his social work, Grant Williams received the Bill Russell Mentoring Award in 2022 and was nominated for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion Award in 2023. Grant also has a passion for entrepreneurship and investing and has founded a family office with his brother, Gabon Williams. Grant earned a B.S. in Supply Chain Management from the University of Tennessee in three years.

About William States Lee College of Engineering
As North Carolina’s urban research university, UNC Charlotte is ranked as a Top 100 Public University by U.S. News. The institution is home to the nationally ranked W.S. Lee College of Engineering, with over 150 faculty and 3,600 students, making it North Carolina’s 2nd largest engineering college. The many research awards, including NSF CAREER, Fulbright and NIST Flemming, demonstrate the college’s commitment to research and contribute to the university’s R1 Carnegie classification in 2025. Learn how W.S. Lee College of Engineering is forging the future.