Hack the North is a high-energy hackathon event held in Waterloo, Ontario, where 1,000 students from around the globe gather for 36 hours to create innovative software, driven by prizes, learning opportunities, and the chance to showcase their technological skills. Cockroach Labs, a sponsor of the event, was impressed by the ingenuity and creativity displayed, particularly in the winning project, SumNotes, which uses CockroachDB to create an automatic note-taking application for students. SumNotes, developed by a team that included high school students, effectively utilizes the database for authentication, transcription, and summarization, earning them a $1,000 prize. Honorable mentions included CockroachNest, which developed a real-time cluster visualization tool, and Hyper Tickets, which tackled ticket fraud using blockchain technology, both demonstrating impressive technical feats and practical applications of CockroachDB. The event highlights the innovative spirit and technical prowess of participants and encourages continued exploration and development in the field of software engineering.