Issue link: http://latinschool.uberflip.com/i/837825
News & Notes Latin's "Green" Gift to the City Over the last few years, the school has given a "green" gift to all students and employees to help them become more aware of environmental issues and to reduce their environmental impact on our school, community and earth. Past green gifts include a reusable water bottle to cut down on plastic water bottle dependence, a tote bag to reduce plastic bag usage, and a key chain made from recycled bike chains to encourage upcycling. For this year's green gift, Latin partnered with the Chicago Park district to purchase two red oak trees - one to be planted in Lincoln Park and the other in Margate Park to honor Latin's partnership with the Uptown community. e northern red oak trees will produce oxygen, stabilize the soil, filter and store carbon, supply food and shelter to local animals, and provide shade on a hot summer day and brilliant red fall color. Since red oaks live 80-200 years or more, this gift will continue to give back to our community for generations! Middle School Student Hack-a-thon e first annual community-wide middle school hack-a-thon took place on May 13. HackUptown was an event in which 40 middle school students from Goudy, McCutcheon, Courtenay and Latin spent the day trying to find a tech or app-based "hack" (solution) to a community issue. A neighborhood challenge was presented to the teams early in the day by Alderman Harry Osterman: "Build an app that will help the youth of Uptown connect." Students had until 4 p.m. to come up with several prototypes, give pitches to their peers, and ultimately present their final products to a team of judges, who included Mike McGee of Code Now, PC Gooden-Smiley and Taylor Heideman from Alderman Osterman's office, and Devshi Mehrotra, a University of Chicago computer science student. e students were guided by the computer science teachers from each school, as well as several mentors from Launch Pad, Make School and Latin upper school students. e event took place at 4956 N. Sheridan, a space recently acquired by Latin for the purpose of community programming with Uptown, Edgewater and Latin School. Latin students who participated in the hack-a-thon event. Latin Magazine ยป Summer 2017 15