STEP Challenge Winners Announced

MAGIC is pleased to announce the success of their inaugural STEP Challenge (previously known as Hackathon) – a technology-focused pitch competition held last Saturday, February 24, at Carroll Community College.

High school and undergraduate students from Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Charles, and Howard counties teamed up to present the best app idea to a panel of industry judges from graphic design and tech backgrounds, including Justin Frock of Carroll Community College, Lauren Samuelson of Dreamscape Marketing, Rick Leimbach of Startup Portal, and Terrance McGregor of Bytelion (acquired by Olive) and SequenceStack.

“This year we saw some exceptional talent with some very disruptive ideas,” said Graham Dodge, Executive Director of MAGIC. “Ideas that could become the next billion dollar unicorn company.” 

This year’s competition was sponsored and supported by Carroll Community College, Carroll County Chamber of Commerce, Carroll County Public Library, and Penacity, LLC. Thanks to their generous support, MAGIC was able to grant a total of $500 in cash to the team that won the Best Overall category.

WINNING TEAMS OF STEP CHALLENGE 2024:

Best Overall & Best Tech: CodeFetch

Hamza Nasher-Alneam – Broadneck Highschool
Ave Wiernicki – Broadneck Highschool

CodeFetch is an app created by developers for developers, enabling users to consolidate their work into a single system.

Best Idea & Best Design: Ghost Stream

Chimkamma Chukwuka-Eze – Liberty High School
Michael Tardivo – McDonough School
Sebastian Pio Roda – McDonough School

Ghost Stream is an app designed to capture the concept of a “ghost user,” allowing users to share costs for popular streaming platforms.

Best Pitch: UniNav

UniNav is an app created for high school and college students to streamline the application process.

Alex Medellin – McDaniel College
Josiah Yung – McDaniel College
Melissa Toress – McDaniel College
Micah Ober – Winters Mill High School
Wiseness Tatienou – Westminster High School