Alabama State University Takes Home The Win At 10th Annual BE SMART HBCU Hackathon

The team’s winning App would address maternal health crisis in rural Alabama

As Black women are disproportionately affected by the nation’s maternal health crisis, students at Alabama State University (ASU) created a mobile app to address this and won first place at the 2025 BE SMART HBCU Hackathon.

“Winning this Hackathon is an incredible honor for our team. It reflects the hard work, creativity, and collaboration we’ve built together and highlights the strength of our school’s support for innovation,” said Oluwatodimu Jonathan Adegoke, a junior computer science major at ASU.

The 10^th annual Hackathon, themed “Built Different, Built Brilliant,” returned to Charlotte Nov. 5 – 8, where Queen City Mayor Vi Lyles greeted students from more than three dozen historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), including two teams from Charlotte’s own HBCU, Johnson C. Smith University. She discussed the job opportunities available in the city.

“We need new engineers. We need people who are going to help us build a greater city,” Lyles told BLACK ENTERPRISE. “We want people to come to Charlotte, North Carolina, especially these young people.”

American Airlines Vice President of Customer Intelligence Saba Beyene said that more than 50 former Hackathon participants have been hired by American Airlines, which returned as the Hackathon’s host sponsor. BLACK ENTERPRISE CEO Earl “Butch” Graves, Jr., told the audience of more than 300 HBCU students about the importance of the Hackathon, which has helped fulfill a need over the past decade to recruit talented Black students into tech careers.

Preparing HBCU students for Tech Careers

On Nov. 6, Sponsor Day, students listened to sage advice and helpful tips from sponsors while also presenting their resumes during a career fair. Leaders from Verizon spoke to students about gaining visibility through intentional networking. Fidelity Investments leaders walked through useful tools for developing investment habits, and Toyota leaders shared professional and personal tips for building a meaningful career during the transition from college. Various leaders from American Air helped prep students for technical interviews and highlighted the company’s early-career talent development program, ADEPT. Representatives from each of these four companies also served as tech mentors and judges.

During the 24-hour coding competition from Nov. 7-8, each of the 62 teams was challenged with developing an app that solves an issue in their respective communities. Judges assessed the team’s application impact, technical complexity, and user-friendliness, and also rated teams on their pitch and presentation skills. All competitors were computer science, computer engineering, and cybersecurity majors.

A suite of prizes was offered to winners, including AAdvantage miles from American Airlines, savvy digital devices like laptops and gaming keyboards, branded blankets and bags, tumblers, and useful tech gear. Thanks to PepsiCo and McDonald’s, students from the top three winning teams collectively took home more than $100,000 in cash to split amongst team members. Additional sponsors for the 10th annual BE Smart Hackathon include The City of Charlotte, NASCAR, and Nationwide, marking the largest Hackathon sponsor pool to date.

Addressing Community Needs Through Technology

Via ASU’s proposed MomCare app, women in rural Selma, Alabama—some of whom team members said have to travel up to 100 miles to the nearest obstetrician—would receive expedited services via virtual consultations, answers on medication and food risks while pregnant, belly-bump photo assessments, and much more. The winning team members, in addition to Oluwatodimu Jonathan Adegoke, are Oluwakanyinsola Erinle, Abigiya Mesfin, George-Michael Kondoun, and Jamerio Robinson; all computer science majors, ranging from a sophomore to three juniors and one senior at the Montgomery, Alabama, HBCU.

Adegoke and Mesfin both competed in the BE SMART Hackathon last year and were excited for this year’s win.

“This experience motivates us to continue pursuing meaningful projects in tech that can have real-world impact,” said Adegoke, “and it inspires us to keep pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in our future careers.”

In second place was “Team Albert & Friends” from North Carolina Central University in Durham, NC. Their app allows users to locate food pantries by zip code and includes a feature that turns grocery store receipts into recipes.

In third place was “Team HackHouse” from Morehouse College in Atlanta. The quad developed Launchpad, an app that connects students to careers in technology, which was timely and relevant given the Hackathon’s objective to connect students to meaningful tech internships and career opportunities.

Team Albert & Friends from N.C. Central University placed 2nd at the 2025 BE SMART Hackathon.

A team from Fisk University and from Grambling State University advanced to the top 5 and presented their apps on stage, after which the judges narrowed it down to the three winners.

See a complete list of winners’ prizes here. Prizes were also given to students who proudly represented their Hackathon experience in a major way on social media.

Follow Black Enterprise on Instagram to see highlights across the 2025 Hackathon.