When we launched the Howest Campus Stack student community, our goal was to create a space where IT students could connect, learn, and grow together. We’ve mastered our weekly Cybernights, hosted cozy movie nights, and thrown massive board game sessions. But from Friday, March 27th to Sunday, March 29th, 2026, we took things to an entirely new level by hosting our first-ever weekend-long gaming marathon: LAN2026!
For an entire weekend, the Campus Stack Zone (BST.J.1.202) was transformed into a high-powered gaming arena. We had Howest students, alumni, lecturers, and staff all packing into the room with their rigs, monitors, and an endless tangle of ethernet cables, ready to game until the early hours of the morning.
A Weekend Fueled by Powerhouse Sponsors
Putting on a massive, 48-hour event completely free of charge for our community is no small feat. It takes an incredible amount of coordination, infrastructure, and support. As Community Manager, I am immensely proud and grateful to say that our very first LAN was backed by an absolute dream team of industry giants.
A massive thank you to our incredible sponsors who made LAN2026 possible:
- 🔋 Red Bull: Keeping our energy levels maxed out and our reflexes sharp through 48 hours of non-stop action.
- 🚄 Infrabel: Supporting our student community and helping us keep the event running smoothly on the tracks.
- 🛡️ Orange Cyberdefense: Looking out for the next generation of IT talent and proving that security professionals know how to play hard, too.
- 🇧🇪 The Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium (CCB): Continuing their fantastic support of our students by helping us fund and equip the event.
Thanks to these partnerships, every single attendee walked away with an awesome, custom-curated goodie bag, and we were able to keep the entire crowd hydrated with free drinks all weekend long!
Tournaments, Minecraft, and a Card-Game Corner
The beauty of LAN2026 was our core philosophy: do whatever you feel like. We didn’t want a rigid schedule; we wanted an authentic, relaxed gaming environment. The room naturally split into a vibrant mix of different gaming cultures:
- The Competitive Edge: We hosted a major rocket league tournament complete with epic prizes provided by our sponsors. The competitive spirit was real, and the cheers from the winning teams echoed down the hallways of Building J.
- The Minecraft Server: For those looking for a more collaborative vibe, our dedicated Campus Stack Minecraft server was a massive hit, with students building, mining, and surviving the weekend together.
- The Analog Zone: For the tabletop fans, our dedicated card-game corner was constantly full of intense strategies, deck building, and casual matches.
Because the event ran straight through the weekend, the school even allowed us to set up designated sleeping zones. Seeing students pass out on camp beds, wake up, grab a breakfast slice of pizza, and immediately jump back onto their PCs to continue a match was peak LAN party culture.
Bridging the Gap Between Classrooms and Community
Bringing together current freshmen, third-year students, alumni who are already working in the industry, and the very lecturers who teach us during the week was an amazing experience. It broke down the traditional walls of a classroom and showed just how tight-knit the Howest IT cluster really is.
Organizing an event of this scale was a massive undertaking, but seeing the smiles, the epic gaming setups, and the incredible community bonding made every single hour of prep work worth it.
To the Campus Stack team who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to manage the network, power delivery, and logistics: you are absolute legends. To our sponsors—Red Bull, Infrabel, Orange Cyberdefense, and the CCB: thank you for believing in our community.
LAN2026 is officially in the history books, but you can bet it won’t be our last. See you at the next drop! 🎮🎧🔌