VT CEED

Virginia Tech NSBE Teams Win Big at Hampton Roads Hack-A-Thon!

Eighty college students from across Virginia gathered for the Hampton Roads Hack-A-Thon, an innovation-driven competition designed to test creativity, engineering skills, and technical problem-solving. Virginia Tech’s chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) sent several scholars to compete—two teams earn top honors.

The hack-a-thon provided an opportunity for students to apply classroom knowledge to real-world challenges, collaborate across majors, and showcase emerging talent within STEM fields.

Virginia Tech’s delegation excelled, securing first place and $5,000 as well as third place and $2,000 for their organization.

First-Place Winners: Justin Kennedy, Richard Harrison, Samuel Sleshi, and Monty Brown.

Third-Place Winners: Fehintolu Ghandi - Olaoye, Mounira Njinjie, Winston Mensah, Alphonse Otieno, and Joseph Nsereko.

The competition highlights the growing impact of student innovation in Virginia’s Tech landscape. We see you, and we are incredibly proud of all you’ve accomplished!

We were honored to host students and faculty from Virginia State University for a two-day visit filled with lab tours, graduate panels, micro-interviews, campus exploration, and real conversations about the path to graduate school.

VSU students showed up with curiosity, excellence, and big dreams—while CEED ambassadors, faculty, and grad students opened doors, shared their journeys, and modeled what community and mentorship can look like.

Experiences like this don’t just inform students—they ignite possibilities. We are grateful to the Sloan Foundation and Genentech for their support in making opportunities like this possible.

Grateful to everyone who helped make this happen. To the students: keep going. The next step is closer than you think.

Audra Barnes and Alexa N. Smith, thank you for your tremendous leadership and guidance in bringing this vision to life. Your dedication, coordination, and care made this possible.