Treasure Hacks

Soft Skill Seminar

Event Recap

Through our in-person full day seminar, we hosted networking workshops, connected students with industry professionals, and gamified the soft-skill learning process to help empower students.


Check out the event details and highlights below!

Volunteers setting up before the eventTeam iClothes working on their pitchKathy and April helping to judge the pitch competitionDaniel and Carmen Presenting their financial literacy workshopStudent and volunteer during the networking sectionStudent and volunteer during the networking sectionTeam iCode working on their pitchEthan Xie, Ethan Kosaki, and Brandon Joe before the event

Quick Figures

Volunteers and Lumi

62 Total Attendees

Bird of Paradise

90% stayed all 8 hours

HyperX Headset

$2,000 in Prizes

Event Breakdown

Setting the Stage

Before starting, students were able to get some free swag from our sponsors like HyperX and the Extended Studies program at UC San Diego. Students got time to meet one another before the full day of workshops and gamified events!

  • The Treasure Hacks team checking in participants
  • A volunteer meeting taking place before the event
  • Welcoming an industry professional to speak in their workshop
  • Volunteers getting ready to start check-in
  • Co-founders Ethan Wang, Ethan Kosaki, and Brandon Joe are ready to start the day
  • Brandon Joe and Ethan Kosaki welcome a volunteer for the networking portion
  • Ethan Xie, Ethan Kosaki, and Brandon Joe at the beginning of the event
  • Musical Tables Networking
  • Musical Tables Networking
  • Slide Deck Roulette
  • Musical Tables Networking
  • Musical Tables Networking
  • Slide Deck Roulette
  • Musical Tables Networking
  • Musical Tables Networking
  • Musical Tables Networking
  • Slide Deck Roulette

Make it a Game!

For both networking and presenting, we designed games and activities that allowed participants to practice and develop these skills in a fun way. They learned new skills and significantly improved at breaking the ice with industry professionals.

May the Best Pitch Win!

Participants then each delievered a product pitch 3 times. Within each iteration, business experts provided feedback on how to tell the story in a concise and convincing manner, which allowed participants to further practice and strengthen their presenting skills.

  • Team iClothes delivering their pitch
  • The Apple Backpack team evaluating their presentation
  • Team iMove sharing a moment of laughter while working on their pitch
  • The iClothes team between rounds of pitching
  • The iCode team during the pitch development period
  • Team iCode delivering their pitch
  • The iClothes team further developing their pitch
  • iMove considering design and story decisions for their presentation
  • Anthony Jenanian talking through iClothes's presentation
  • Sam Liu engaging the audience on financial diversification
  • Christiana Russell talking about EQ and networking
  • Brant Cooper talking about moving an audience
  • Daniel and Carmen talking about Smart Money Moves
  • DeLinda talking about the importance of building a network of trust
  • Bryan Bennett sharing the basics of storytelling with data

From Inspiration to Passion

We also invited working professionals to share their own learnings from the field. Whether it was about forming stronger connections or how to start one's financial literacy journey, they shared their passions and inspirations to the next generation of young leaders.

Into the Horizon

By the end of the event, participants felt like they had known their teams for longer than just the 8 hours they were there. Additionally, the organizers were amazed by the 90% whole-day-retention and celebrated the work that everyone put in to make the event a possibility.

  • Prize Winners
  • Group Photo

Student Takeaways

Anna Heinke

Anna Heinke

“There are so many things I learned today, but the most impactful moment was pitching with the group and learning how to sell [and] communicate ideas. I’ve never practiced it before in this way, which made today more helpful.”

Jonathan Hsu

Jonathan Hsu

“I swear everyone looks like someone I known before. The volunteers, the people... they feel like friends.”

Lumi with new HyperX gear!