LAVC MESA Team Wins HackMESA 2026

LAVC student Turbo Sinclair named the first place winner of HackMESA 2.0 (Pictured from left to right: Cash Webb, LAVC MESA Tutor and student organizer for HackMESA, with Turbo Sinclair.)

LAVC MESA Team Wins HackMESA 2026

15 California community college participated in the 24-hour collegiate hackathon competition

The LAVC MESA (Math, Engineering & Science Achievement) Program teams won first place of HackMESA 2.0 and best Video Game Design during the second-annual MESA student-led hackathon in downtown Los Angeles.

"Congratulations to Turbo Sinclair, Serina Romeo, Raul Lopez and all the LAVC MESA students for their amazing accomplishments at this year's HackMESA," said Dr. Barry Gribbons, president of Los Angeles Valley College. "Our MESA Program, under the guidance of faculty member and MESA Director Pamela Byrd-Williams, is doing an amazing job preparing our math, science and engineering students by offering unique opportunities like this hackathon."

The first place winner of HackMESA 2.0 was LAVC MESA student Turbo Sinclair, who earned a $2,000 prize for his one-person team. Sinclair developed Project Kessler: Automomos Orbital Remediation, a real-time first-person orbital remediation simulator using the Gemini API to autonomously navigate a live debris field using real aerospace algorithms.

LAVC MESA students Serina Romeo and Raul Lopez were on the winning team in the Best Game Development category. Their team created Aniflix, a video game that allows users to watch videos of their favorite shows to unlock the assigned characters. After completing the video, users can select the character to use in their profile picture.

There were 10 LAVC MESA students who competed this year, including students Karen Abgaryan, Volodymyr Balan, Debopriyo Ghosh, Priscilla Mugerwa, Melvin Martinez, Denys Plachynda, Meri Sargsian, who were supported by MESA Student Organizers Cash Webb and Trinity Frias.

"HackMESA 2.0 helped me strengthen by ability to quicky turn ideas into working solutions under pressure," said Meri Segsian, LAVC MESA student. "I realized that I'm good at quickly adapting to challenges and taking initiative when working in a team."

The HACKMESA 2026 competition brought together 150 registered students from 15 MESA programs across the state-from Oakland to San Diego-for a 24-hour hackathon to build real projects, gain industry experience, and launch their tech careers.

The LAVC MESA program is dedicated to creating exceptionally prepared transfer-ready students in calculus-based STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math). The goal is to provide support to LAVC students who are transferring to a 4-year university as a STEM major. MESA seeks to strengthen students who are first-generation, low-income, and educationally disadvantaged, therefore increasing the number of those historically underrepresented in STEM. For more information, visit www.lavc.edu/mesa.

LAVC MESA Team at HackMESA 2.0 (Pictured from left to right: Priscilla Mugerwa, Volodymyr Balan, Karen Abgaryan, Denys Plachynda, Melvin Martinez, Debopriyo Ghosh, Meri Sargsian, Turbo Sinclair, Serina Romeo, Ruel Lopez, LAVC MESA Director Pamela Byrd-Williams, and MESA Student Organizer for HackMESA Cash Webb.)