Biniza Vázquez, a student at Tec Puebla campus, was selected to compete in MIT’s international hackathon.
Biniza Vázquez, a student at the Tec’s Puebla campus, will participate in HackMIT 2025, becoming one of five Mexicans to earn a spot at the event.
This hackathon is one of the greatest in the world, not only because of its selective registration system but also because of the event’s logistics, which include workshops given by sponsors, personalized mentoring, and events in which programmers can take a break from programming.
A hackathon is an intensive hacking (programming and development) event with a time limit of 24 to 48 hours. This one will be held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston on September 13 and 14.
Biniza expresses her gratitude to Tec de Monterrey, saying it was there that she developed the skills that allowed her to stand out: “I feel very proud because it’s an excellent way to put into practice all the skills I learned at the Tec: teamwork, self-management, and learning to adapt to situations.”
The student believes that this hackathon is an opportunity to boost her creativity and capacity for innovation, thereby improving her ability to devise and develop a solution in a short period of time.
Biniza hopes to establish relationships with other people inside and outside her field of work that will allow her to exchange experiences, knowledge, opportunities, and support.
Just as she was inspired by other women to enter the world of robotics, she hopes to be someone who inspires others to enter this field in the future. “If you see that what you aspire to be doesn’t exist within your immediate circle, then motivate yourself to become it,” she added.
The selection process
Biniza was looking for new challenges when she discovered HackMIT through the Major League Hacking community.
There was a series of questions that applicants had to complete in order to be selected. The student believes that her leadership and problem-solving skills, in addition to her extensive résumé, were what made her stand out from other candidates.
Upon receiving the acceptance letter, she began her preparation process, which started with finding a team.
All those selected enter a Discord server where they interview each other until they find the most compatible people. Biniza found a Chilean partner and an NYU student to make up her team.
Their project will focus on the healthcare sector due to personal experiences they discovered they share with each other. They are still deciding whether to focus on severe vision problems or stroke prevention.
Previous experience in hackathons
Biniza participated for the first time in Tec Bytes, a hackathon held at the Tec’s Puebla campus, where she developed an application that facilitated education in neurodivergent communities and won first place.
They incorporated an artificial intelligence model, in which they created prompts to adapt learning to a specific user. For example, for a teenager with autism spectrum disorder, variables were moved that would explain a certain topic in a friendly way.
Despite having previous experience in creating applications, the challenge of having limited time to create them was what immersed her in the world of hackathons.
She later competed in NASA’s Space Apps hackathon, where she developed an application that allowed users to view exoplanets in a 3D model.
The venue for that edition was inside a hangar at the Aeronautical University of Querétaro, so they had to be very focused when programming, ignoring the noise and cold produced by the light aircraft flying in front of them.
There, the student was able to present her project to a NASA executive, who congratulated her and recognized her achievement.
The projects she has carried out at hackathons are quite varied. For example, in Hack 4 Her, she programmed an application that made it easier for Arca Continental employees to manage small businesses they had to visit and review.
Or her most recent application for Hack Puebla, which connected to a small robot that taught children how to use the web safely. Both projects earned her a place on the podium in their respective competitions.
“At a hackathon, you end up doing things you never imagined before. And, if that idea continues to be developed, it can grow even more,” Biniza pointed out.
The biggest challenge Biniza has faced at these hackathons has been learning to stay calm and not lose sight of her goal: to have fun and find a solution that addresses the various issues.
“If you see that what you aspire to be doesn’t exist within your immediate circle, then motivate yourself to become it.”
Hackathons in her life
Biniza compares the world of hackathons to magic: how a screen full of code can be used to create an interface that can help change someone’s life. “The magic lies in transforming ideas into tangible realities, and the tool to achieve this is knowledge accompanied by constant practice.”
Hackathons were the beginning of what is now her daily process of learning, challenging herself, and continually looking to understand what lies behind things.
This thought led her to understand what she considers to be “the second part of hackathons”: assimilating the process and development that takes place before and after an idea.
Biniza currently uses all the knowledge she learned at hackathons in her daily life, prioritizing tasks and doing everything with a focus.
What she loves most about hackathons and mechatronics is the opportunity they give her to transform and help others while trying to understand how the world around us works.
What is a hackathon?
A hackathon is a gathering of programmers who work collaboratively to respond to a challenge or problem faced by an organization within a given time frame. Their response will be a solution in the form of a finished prototype for an innovative product, service, or business model.
The process begins with the appointment of a team and continues with the selection of issues to be addressed, classified into categories called tracks, which can be divided into disciplines or areas of interest to the majority, ranging from health, entertainment, and sustainability to Sustainable Development Goals.
Teams then have 24 hours to plan and carry out their project from the moment the clock starts ticking until the submission portal closes.
They conclude with a presentation of their work before a jury, which is a crucial part of the results, as they must present the solution they developed, hoping to convey the value and vision of their idea.
Some hackathon organizers invite sponsors and collaborators who assign them problems to solve within their companies, as in the case of Arca Continental in Hack 4 Her.
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