Illuminated by candles and computer screens, the McCombs Atrium bustled with energy and the magic of analytics. The Business Analytics Association hosted its semesterly escape room and hackathon, “Escape McCombs,” with a Harry Potter spin Wednesday night. Teams of three to four students followed clues across the building, worked through four puzzle stages, and competed to win $500.
“Escape McCombs is a programming puzzle that takes things from data analytics (and) business analytics and formats it in a fun escape room puzzle way,” BAXA alumna Cammi Tran (business analytics ‘26), said. “Some of the puzzles may be oriented toward more physical, while some are just programming, and we like to combine them both so that (teams) can utilize their current data skill, test it out and see where they want to grow in a fun way.”
While drawing on real programming and data skills, Escape McCombs embraced their theme. Students dressed as dementors roamed the halls and interfered with teams’ progress. As teams navigated through rope obstacle courses and interacted with the characters to find the final room, they had to catch the “keeper of the golden snitch.”
“I was trying to track down a guy who was the keeper of the golden snitch, and he pointed in one direction and started sprinting in another direction,” Alyssia Menezes, business analytics senior and member of the first-place team, said. “I was sprinting through McCombs, and I’ve never done that before — besides being late to class.”
When the teams weren’t sprinting around McCombs, they worked through a series of programming challenges that tested the teams’ business analytics skills in a way that replicates real-world problems and work conditions, said Ryan Wang, a business analytics junior and the innovation director for this Escape McCombs.
“We frame every single stage around data analytics,” Wang said. “It’s showing you how you might be able to tackle a problem using data analytics, prepping you for situations where you might need to filter data (or) clean data. It’s meant to be fun for them to see how they can use these experiences in a hands-on way to reinforce their learning, so that going into the future, they are more prepared as professionals.”
The experience wasn’t limited to aspiring professional analysts. Wang said the puzzles and hint system were designed to be accessible to people still deciding their career path, nonmajors and new BAXA members.
“The goal is that every single person can get through all the stages,” Wang said. “Ultimately, it is to give them a chance to actually apply their skills … and to make them feel proud of themselves that they were able to get through an event like this.”
For some, the event tested weeks of preparation. For others, it acted as a fun way to spend an evening. Either way, Escape McCombs featured a unique opportunity for wizard-themed puzzling.
“There’s plenty of opportunities for students to go and do a regular project-based hackathon,” said Matthew Stapp, business analytics and mathematics junior and technical vice president of BAXA. “But the way we do our hackathon, it’s a puzzle, and it’s meant to be really interactive, and it’s an experience rather than something that you buy to compete (in).”
