A designer's note
Hey! My name is Manitej. I'm sneaking this little tidbit into the site, and I don't know how many people will actually read it.
When I was designing this site, I had a desire to capture the friendships, adventures, and proud work all of us have done during our gap year. These three things serve as our defining moments for the past years. We made deep friendships with the people we barely knew at the beginning and met incredible teenagers on adventures we've taken around the world.
This site will never be perfect in my head, because in the few days I had in making this, I still don't believe I did a great job at capturing the most meaningful moments we've had. Every "Eureka!" or "Holy shit!". Strange interactions. Deep interactions. Alas... I hope whatever I've come up has touched you in some meaningful way.
If I had to leave you something, it's this: This gap year is meaningful because it is different. In life, there are very few opportunities to express yourself. I never had the chance to build the things I wanted to during high school, but now I have the tools and support to do so. Your gap year is your own canvas to create things your proud of. This can be actual, real work that reaches teenagers worldwide. But this can also mean interacting and making friends with incredibly talented people.
Also, no one in Hack Club is perfect. A lot of us gap years are varied in our technical skills, artistic prowess, ability to organize, etc. Some of us have been veteran coders or hardware hackers, others are relatively new. But we're all driven to make something we're proud of. There's no ask for incredible skill, just visible dedication to make something you're proud of. Don't feel like you cannot apply because you haven't done enough. Only apply because you think you can do more.
The content here is simply my own thoughts. I have no role in the application process, nor do my thoughts imply how decisions will be made. This is simply an expression my own thoughts and insight in the hopes that it'll support your decision.
Written with love,
Manitej Boorgu
^ This is me failing at art