Entrepreneurial Sparks Fly at the 2026 Hackathon

By Catie Mino
Engineering + Entrepreneurship Program Head
Frank & Eileen Accelerator Program for the Leaders of Tomorrow Manager and Incubator Program Lead

On Saturday, August 29, faculty from Marlborough’s Frank & Eileen Accelerator Program for the Leaders of Tomorrow hosted the annual entrepreneurial Hackathon. Twenty students from three Los Angeles-area schools spent the day on campus tackling real-world problems in fashion, food and beverage, and environmental sustainability.

The Hackathon kicks off the application cycle for the program's yearlong Incubator and Accelerator tracks, which are 25-week afterschool programs that give students education, mentoring, funding, community, and hands-on experience as they pursue their own business ventures. The Incubator is the starting point for students with a business idea they want to explore, where they dig into the problem and design, prototype, and iterate on a solution. The Accelerator is for students ready to take their business further, pairing them with industry experts, grounding them in core business concepts, and providing $1,000 in seed funding. Both programs culminate in a Pitch Showcase, where students present to an audience of professionals and peers.

The Hackathon compresses that cycle into a few short hours, giving students an opportunity to identify a problem, imagine a solution, and build to a pitch by the end of the day. It is a day of entrepreneurial discovery and creative teamwork.

From Idea to Prototype

It doesn't take much to light a spark—and at the Hackathon, sparks were flying. Working in teams around their chosen topic, students brainstormed the range of problems that fall under it, and it wasn't long before teammates started landing on the same issues independently; a reminder of just how much overlap there is in what's on young people's minds. After hearing feedback from their peers, teams settled on a single problem to solve, working from the idea that a well-defined problem is already halfway to a solution.

With a clear picture of their problem, students dove into brainstorming potential solutions—first individually, then coming together as a group to build on each other's ideas and meld them into one. From there, they got to work bringing those ideas to life, using whatever materials they could get their hands on: cardboard and tin foil became an ocean-cleaning vacuum, fabric scraps and felt turned into prototypes of better-fitting athletic wear, and mirrors and cardboard formed a mock-up of in-store scanning technology, while one team focused on physical and digital mockups of app screens.

Meet the Judges

Teams presented their work to two judges with deep experience in business and marketing. Ashley Lyles ’09, a Marlborough alumna and MBA graduate of the USC Marshall School of Business, has worked in sports marketing for Nike, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Los Angeles Clippers. She currently serves as Account Director at Think True, a minority-led, culture-forward agency that helps brands build trust with communities through strategy, talent, and community-rooted work. She was joined by Liliana Lettieri, founder of Pixun Technologies, creator of the first sunlight-backlit computer screen, who brought an entrepreneurial and innovation-focused perspective to the judging table.

The Teams and Their Pitches

Calorie Tracking built a transparency app for people trying to lower their sugar intake, tracking meals and turning them into data on sugar and calorie consumption—then using that data to recommend restaurants that fit the user's goals.

The Movement Co. found that sports brands tend to design clothing around a single "hourglass" body type. Citing research on 63 athletes who exercise five or more hours a week, the team pointed out that 45% didn't fit that standard sizing. Their solution: custom-fit athletic wear made from biopolyester derived from renewable crops like corn and castor beans, offered in a range of prints and patterns with customizable embroidery.

Aqua Clean Vacuum tackled ocean plastic pollution—citing roughly 12 million metric tons of waste in the ocean and 3 billion people who rely on it for food and livelihood. Their design uses multiple filters to capture microplastics and a heat sensor to detect and avoid marine life, all built around a propeller system to move the vacuum through the water.

ShapeSnap addressed the lack of inclusivity in fashion sizing with a device that scans a user's body and projects how different clothing items will actually look and fit on them—so shoppers can order with confidence, either for home delivery or in-store pickup.

In the span of a few hours, 20 students had gone from a blank page to a pitch. The problems were real, the solutions were theirs, and the energy in the room proved what’s possible when you give young people a problem worth solving and the space to solve it. 

Apply Now

The Hackathon is just the beginning and the door is now open for students who want to turn their own ideas into a full-fledged business. Applications for this year's Incubator and Accelerator programs are open now and due Friday, September 18, 2026. Learn more about each program in the Incubator and Accelerator Program Information sheet, and see what past students accomplished in the 25–26 Student Businesses Overview.

Students can review the application questions ahead of time using this Google Doc, and submit their responses through this Google Form.

Frank & Eileen Accelerator Program for the Leaders of Tomorrow Faculty:
Catie Mino
Engineering + Entrepreneurship Program Head
Frank & Eileen Accelerator Program for the Leaders of Tomorrow Manager and Incubator Program Lead

Sun Migliacci
Finance Instructor
Frank & Eileen Accelerator Program for the Leaders of Tomorrow Accelerator Program Lead