2020 DKBack2School Contest

It’s back to school season once again, and DigiKey wants to help with your remote learning experience. The #DKBack2School contest is kicking off the 2020 school year with three different engagement levels and prize tiers to ensure you have the experience and tools to get the year started right.

Admittedly, this year will be different for many students as you are either participating in remote learning or hybrid models of the classic college experience. As you scout these new paths and adapt to the inevitable changes implemented by your institution of choice, one must keep in mind that we are all new to this paradigm and are developing best practices. Due to the novelty of the situation, you will likely find these new scenarios ripe with opportunities for creativity and improvement. These are the opportunities we want you thinking about while you participate in this contest.

So, how does it work?

We are excited to announce this year's Back to School promotions. If you are a Fan of DigiKey, you can participate in our DigiKey Sweepstakes. No Purchase Necessary – enter here. If you are an Involved Fan of DigiKey or a Hardcore Fan of DigiKey, you can participate in our DigiKey Product Idea contest available here.

Submit a design sketch on engineering paper, back of a napkin, or any medium of your choice around your concept on improving student life, whether it be COVID-19 related or just in general experience, using electronic components and products from DigiKey. If you are open to a bit of homework, you can even submit a video or photos of your project in action to be eligible for one of the TWO grand prizes.

Three tiers of awesome prizes allow all engineering students to enter for a chance to win!

• “Superfan” Prize – Our Grand Prize! Consisting of an Instalab - a veritable lab-in-a-box containing everything you need to setup your own remote lab. To top it off, we will pick TWO Instalab winners! Submit photos or video of your functional design for a chance to win.
• “Involved Prize” – This starter lab set includes a bench power supply, o-scope, soldering set, and more so you’ll be prepared to start working on your electronics projects right away.To be eligible for the Involved prize you only need to submit a sketch of your design idea.
• “Entry Level Prize – Featuring an excellent electronics starter toolkit and PiCADE 10” retro gaming kit. Entry for this prize requires only submitting your name and college (.edu) email address, making it perfect for the busy student who needs a break from their homework.

Complete contest details and entry links can be found on the contest detail page here: https://www.digikey.com/en/resources/social/back2school. If you’re looking for ideas to get you started, check out the projects on Maker.io.

Ask an engineer

We inquired into the minds of a couple engineering students from Reinvented Magazine for their thoughts on this year’s prizes and any advice they have for other EE students.

Name: Keerthi Sekar

School: University of Cincinnati

Major: Computer Engineering (BE), graduating in 2023

1. How would a kit like this have helped you during school?

Having a kit like this in college early on would have really encouraged me to get out of my comfort zone and take on technical tasks in a more encouraging way. This would be an awesome way to get hands-on experience and become comfortable with the lab equipment.

2. What items in this kit excite you?

Solder station all the way! I would love to have a solder station easily accessible so I could practice my soldering skills as I haven't had many opportunities to practice it. The o-scope is another great tool to readily have available.

3. Do you have any advice for new EE students?

Don’t be afraid to try new things! Read up about various tools and try to see how they are used before you get to your labs. These tools are important to your engineering future, so it is a good idea to get comfortable with them and get adventurous!

Name: Karen Velderrain-Lopez

School: University of Washington

Major: Computer Engineering (BE)

1. How would a kit like this have helped you during school?

A kit like this would be very helpful for being able to make tech and projects more accessible. As a commuter student, getting lab time to work with the equipment was hard, and having this kit would have helped me learn more and develop my skills as an engineer. Hands-on learning is a great way to grow your passions and get more experience, and a kit like this would definitely facilitate this and would have been very helpful.

2. What items in this kit excite you?

The oscilloscope and the soldering iron. Being able to analyze circuits is very important when developing projects, and a soldering iron is a very handy tool for building said circuit projects.

3. Do you have any advice for new EE students?

Don't be afraid to ask for help and make sure to keep learning outside of the classroom. Always remember that you are smart enough and capable enough to be an engineer.

No Purchase Necessary. The DigiKey Back2School Contest begins on 9/8/20 at 12:01AM CT and ends on 11/12/20 at 11:59PM CT. Legal residents of North America, EMEA and APAC (excluding China). Void elsewhere and where prohibited. By participating, you agree to the Official Rules.