UPE Successfully Kicks off Spring 2022 with Spring Kickoff Meeting, Miami Hack Week, Web Development Workshop, Design Workshop, and More!
On the first month of the Spring semester, Upsilon Pi Epsilon (UPE), the largest student technology organization at Florida International University (FIU), started off with a week of tabling, followed by the Spring Kickoff Meeting, plus a Web Development Workshop and Design Workshop, as well as co-hosting Miami Hack Week!
UPE successfully began the Spring 2022 semester with their annual Spring Kickoff Meeting, which attracted over 200 members! It was held on Friday, January 14th and had a huge turnout. “With over 200 attendees, UPE’s first general body meeting was a success and shows the growth of the tech community within FIU and Miami. It was a collective display of talent and interest in technology that is driving the push of the #MiamiTech movement as UPE continues to be the leading student organization driving tech in our city,” shared UPE’s President, Nicholas Gonzalez. Students who attended the big event were able to learn about becoming a member and all of the benefits that come with it, such as being able to join different programs, meeting new people with similar interests, and expanding their knowledge in the world of technology. Of course, they also got to enjoy food, refreshments, and participate in giveaways.
UPE is not only the largest tech organization at FIU, but it is also run by students and has recognition from the Knight Foundation, Florida Board of Governors, The Miami Herald, FIU News, and many more. UPE is also sponsored by over 70 prominent companies such as Google, Microsoft, and Facebook. It is “the bridge between academia and career”, as UPE’s president, Nicholas Gonzalez says. The organization opens its door to students from all majors, whether they have experience in technology or not. This makes it a welcoming community where students who share a passion and interest in learning new technologies can get together and expand their knowledge.
By becoming a UPE member, you can apply to any of these amazing programs depending on your areas of interest:
UPE Code — Software Development
UPE Design — UI/UX & Product Management
UPE Ignite — K-12 Computer Science Community Outreach
UPE InfoTech — Information Technology & Cybersecurity
UPE Leap — Career Development, Interview Preparation, & Mentorship
UPE Make — Hardware Development
UPE SparkDev — Project Development
UPE ShellHacks — Hackathons
Following the Spring Kickoff Meeting, UPE Code held their first workshop on Friday, January 21st. Daniel Ortiz, UPE Code’s new Program Manager, hosted the “Web Development Workshop”, which was a big success, with over 100 members attending. Members were able to create an online portfolio where they can show off their projects. “This event was about learning the fundamentals of web development, HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Then uploading the project we created to GitHub using Git! We covered a plethora of information, from ‘div tags’ to ‘pull requests’. Seeing everyone’s eagerness was refreshing, it was fun to host!” said Ortiz.
UPE also took part in co-hosting Miami Hack Week’s HACK@CAMPUS, which took place between January 23rd — 28th. Students who joined were able to participate in building projects, attend daily workshops and tech talks from #MiamiTech professionals. Food, refreshments, and cool swag were given out, and students also received stipends for presenting their projects and competed to win a grand prize of $10,000. UPE President and Featured Panelist for HACK@CAMPUS’s opening ceremony, Nicholas Gonzalez, said, “This event is a materialization of a disruptive movement that has been taking place in #MiamiTech for years. We are seeing here our young, local talent in full display.”
Next up was UPE Design’s User Experience Workshop, which took place on January 28th. Hosted by Pablo Hernandez, UPE Design’s Program Manager, members interested in the design side of technology got to learn about the basic of the UX process, as well as product definition and research. “Many members said it was a great event and that they had fun since it was quite interactive. I would recommend the event to others since it is very in-depth and prepares you for the professional world with skills needed in UX/UI-related positions” shared Hernandez.
This is just the beginning, as UPE has many more big things planned for the semester. If you have a passion for technology or are simply interested in learning more, UPE encourages you to join as they navigate through the rest of the semester and become part of the #MiamiTech movement. To learn more about UPE and the variety of programs offered, join us on Discord and follow us on social media @UPEFIU! https://discord.gg/upefiu.
Visit our website @ http://upefiu.io !
