I was working as a data scientist and wanted to give back in a small way by starting a program in Chicago […] A few things that really surprised me:

(1) none of my students had access to computer science at their schools (2) half of my students didn’t have access to internet or computers at home (3) half of my students didn’t have basic science teachers at their schools.

These things really rocked my perspective, and got me into doing investigations on the inequities that exist in the education system. That’s when I knew I needed to expand the programs that I was doing.

Brianne Caplan, Hackday 2020

Executive Director & Founder, Code Your Dreams
Program Director, Careers in Computer Science at UChicago

I first became interested in prison policy and criminal justice reform when I was on the faculty at West Point and we took a group of cadets to the Bard Prison Initiative which is an education program that is providing inmates the opportunity to earn a bachelor’s degree before they return to society

[…] One thing I found so interesting in meeting taking these cadets to visit [the inmates] at two different correctional facilities in New York is how earnest they were as students. They were so dedicated to their studies and so thoughtful because the two hours of class they had every day and the coursework they were doing at night were the only reprieve they had from their day-to-day life of incarceration.

Brandon Archuleta, Hackday 2020

Strategist, Immediate Office of the Secretary of the Army
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Georgetown Center for Security Studies