WASHINGTON, D.C. — Representative Ed Royce (R-CA) announced the winners of his district’s Congressional App Challenge: Darien Tsai, Eric Siu, and Kalvin Chang from Glen A. Wilson High School of the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District.
The winning students created Aftermath, a mobile application designed to help middle and high school students study math more effectively in order to boost test scores.
Winners of this year’s Congressional App Challenge were announced during the competition’s Exhibit and Awards Ceremony held Mondaynight at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum. In total, 138 teams—comprised of 407 students from 17 schools—competed in this year’s competition making it one of the largest in the country.
“It is our duty to empower our children to succeed as adults. In a world where our economy is more technology-based every day, this means ensuring that our students receive a top-notch education that stresses STEM subjects, including computer science, so that they are prepared to enter these fields,” said Rep. Royce. “Competitions like this highlight the importance of skills like computer science and inspire students to use technology to address current issues facing our society in innovative ways.”
Students and parents who attended the award ceremony had the opportunity to hear from tech industry leaders during a panel discussion on STEM education. Panel members (pictured below) included Gillian Hayes, professor in Informatics at UC Irvine; Nithin Jilla, Executive Director of Dreams for Schools; and Mark Viloria, Product Manager at Procore Technologies.
A panel of independent judges determined the winning team of the competition that featured mobile applications created by students from California’s 39th Congressional District. Judging was based on factors such as quality of the application’s operations, implementation of the application’s concept, and demonstrated excellence of coding and programming skills.
The winning student developers from Glen A. Wilson High School will have Aftermath displayed in the United States Capitol alongside winning submissions from around the nation.
Some winners of this year’s Congressional App Challenge:
