MSCAPP students share their experience with the Harris Student organization, South Side Civic, and its annual event, Scopeathon, which aims to explore how data and technology can be used for social good and to leverage this mission in benefit of the UChicago and South Side community. 

Members: Peiyu Chen, Ganon Evans, Maggie Larson, Jeffrey Leon, Callie Leone, Raghav Mehrotra, Libby Seline 

first and second year students gather around a whiteboard that says Welcome to 11th annual scopeathon
This was our combined board of first and second year students! The first year students participated in groups and helped organize in the lead-up to the event that day.

What is the mission/purpose of South Side Civic/Scopeathon?

Scopethon brings together leaders of civic organizations, students, and community members to learn about civic hacking, civic problems, and how to work in teams to form a solution. Scoping involves breaking down problems into manageable parts, developing a plan, then achieving it so that organizations can walk away from the weekend with a deliverable. We want all participants in our event to walk away with an understanding of how to be innovative, whether it is incorporating new technology or asking the right questions to understand a project’s needs and goals.

What are  some key projects you have worked on as a group in the past year, or are currently planning, and how do these projects help the community?

Our 2025 Scopeathon included nine different organizations. Projects ranged from acquiring transportation data for grant proposals to increase motor safety near Cooperation Racine’s community spaces to effectively using survey results to change the programming scope of I Am That Woman, a nonprofit focused on wellness and growth for women. Twelve mentors with experience in the civic tech space advised teams of students and community leaders. 

All of the organizations that participate in Scopeathon have a public goal in mind such as advancing education around a certain topic or improving community health. We’ve had several organizations repeatedly come back to participate in Scopeathon to either continue the projects from previous years or address new problems.

How do you apply the skills you earned in the MSCAPP program to the projects you are doing with South Side Civic/Scopeathon?

One of the great strengths of the MSCAPP program is industry standards: the difference between learning to code here versus any other class is intentional choices with style and design so that projects can be replicated and accessible to different audiences. 

Coding assignments from the first year often require students to sit down and thoroughly plan an approach, only to implement it and realize that there are alternatives or improvements they hadn’t initially considered. That same problem solving is at the core of Scopeathon: making an initial plan, then reeling in ideas as the time ticks down.

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