 Over the weekend, a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in shaping our Appalachian region hosted the first ever Appalachian Health Hackathon in Somerset, Kentucky. While the event was the first of its kind in Kentucky, new developments were also taking place at the Center for Rural Development over the weekend. We had three high schools participating remotely through this peer-in program, and so the entire weekend they were on site at their local high schools, hacking away with their own mentors. We had a portal available on site here and mentors could interact with them. MIT's Hacking Medicine program has held more than 40 events worldwide helping develop solutions to some of the toughest problems in medicine. Three high schools participated in the weekend's hackathon. The staff from MIT that were here at the facility said they were as impressive as any high school teams they've seen across the country, and that just speaks volumes of just an incredible opportunity. They were hours away, but participated over the last 24 to 36 hours, and one ended up getting first place. Students from Pikeville, Painesville, and Whitesburg took part in the event virtually. Pikeville High School received first place overall at the Soar Health Hackathon. Students from PHS's Simple Health team had to find an innovative way to help combat obesity and diabetes in the United States, and especially Eastern Kentucky. It starts off with a series of like five, five, five, it'd be five minutes of walking a day, five times a day, it'd be five glasses of water a day, and five servings of fresh vegetable today, and that's pretty simple stuff you can do in your house. Participants were given the opportunity to win most innovative solution in two tracks, obesity, diabetes, and substance abuse. Prizes included $1,500 in cash, FitBits from Pikeville Medical Center, recognition, and the potential to work with business leaders and accelerators. Reporting in Pikeville for EKB News, I'm Shelby Steele.