Rep. Chu’s 1st Congressional App Challenge Ceremony

We would like to share all the photos and background info for the student honorees with you.  https://drive.google.com/open?id=1D7_6tLisArOC8FWfAREh3pbC1AGjzPlD

There is a 10 min highlight video that shows some of the submitted work, and also a 35 min video of the entire program today on the same google link.  Feel free to use them for media publication purposes.

Congressmember Judy Chu is so proud to be recognizing talented young coders by hosting her 1st Annual Congressional App Challenge Competition. This is a very prestigious event that was launched in 2016, and in a short time it has grown tremendously. To date, the Congressional App Challenge has inspired over 14,000 students across 48 states to program an app. The winning group will receive Amazon Web Service Credits and also have their app highlighted on the House.gov website, which gets 10 million online visits per year. Lastly, the winners get to display their app at the U.S. Capitol!

Most valuable of all, this event highlights the increasing importance of STEM education in our country. STEM is becoming more and more valuable for our nation’s youth because the powerful skills gained from coding and programming will ensure that our nation remains at the forefront of progress. There are so many problems that face our world and STEM gives us the tools to tackle monumental challenges like climate change, health disparities, income inequality and much more. In fact, what truly impressed Congressmember Chu about all of the submissions was that the vast majority of the groups attempted to solve a problem with their app. It gives her a great deal of hope for our future knowing that we have such highly talented young coders thinking about how to fix the many problems facing society.

Congresswoman Judy Chu
Congressional App Challenge Ceremony
Sunday, January 19, 2020 https://drive.google.com/open?id=1D7_6tLisArOC8FWfAREh3pbC1AGjzPlD

Awardees

• First Place o The Plastic Problem: Time to Save Our Oceans – Andrea Ng & Teammates

(Alhambra)

o Students from Alhambra High School
o This team of coders decided to focus on a broader issue being discussed

around the globe: the increasingly negative impacts of plastic pollution on our environment. The students began by conducting research on exactly what plastics are made of and how the different plastics we use in our daily lives hurts the environment. The team learned that plastics exist everywhere including our food containers and in the clothing we wear. As a consequence, they have a greater chance of ending up in our oceans.

o With this information in mind, the team developed an app that was designed to be a game with three levels. The first level focuses on the broader symptom of plastics and how items we dump on our coast get washed into the ocean. In this level the user is tasked with driving a boat through a maze and picking up trash. In the second level, you’re a scuba diver whose mission is to protect sea life by collecting microplastics in the ocean. The last level has players collecting as much plastic pollution as possible as it quickly drops from the sky. And finally, once the game is completed, the user will be given some specific steps that he or she can immediately take to help prevent plastic pollution.

o The levels in this game were really well thought out and did a good job of showcasing the teams strength in coding. More importantly, they used this talent to create an app that addressed a growing problem facing our world. That’s why I’m really glad to hear that they intend to create a second version with better animations and greater educational information that will continue to teach users about plastics and the impacts of pollution

• Best Presentation Award o Eww-Waste – Kelly Bastidas, Nicole Devery, Elijah Rojas, and Maggie

Gutierrez (Alhambra)

o Students of Alhambra High School
o This team’s app idea began with the intention of creating something fun

and easy for people to use. After a great deal of hard work and research, they ended with a remarkable product that goes above and beyond the

app to keep the environment clean. Their video presentation begins with a light-hearted performance about the challenges everyday people encounter when trying to recycle all the products in their lives. They focus particularly on E-Waste and how improperly disposing of electronic waste can have serious harmful impacts on the environment.

o To better educate the public on this issue, the team created a game that requires users to quickly decide where to put trash that is falling from the sky. In this scenario, players are tasked with correctly placing falling trash such as plastic bottles or newspapers in the recycle bin and batteries in the e-waste bin. At this point, most games would simply tally up your score and call it a day. But what was really amazing is that at the end of the game the app invites you to visit the group’s Instagram page. This page has more information about the impacts of e-waste and it even helps you find the nearest e-waste recycling center in your city.

• Best Technical Award o Octavo – Matthew Lee (San Marino)

▪  Matthew attends San Marino High School

▪  This young coder is also a pianist and was inspired by his fellow 
musicians to design an app that will help performers recognize intervals between two musical notes. Although the app was designed with the piano in mind, it is inclusive to other musical instruments as well.

▪  From start to finish, the young coder spent a month to design his app. He began with the features that he wanted to implement such as the interface that users interact with to listen to the intervals as well as designing the leaderboard so players can connect with others. Once his concepts were mapped out, he began the coding process to make sure the features worked accordingly and that the interface was user friendly. It’s important to note that he was using JavaScript, an advanced program that our judges pointed out can be challenging to use. Once the design of the app was completed, he conducted test runs to make sure the website feature worked on his computer and, more importantly, on other electronic platforms such as his phone.

▪  The app has been a success, but according to this young man he isn’t done yet. He is already thinking about what Version 2 will look like. He wants to add a second feature where the users can choose interval speed and have more autonomy over the program. Additionally, he wants to add more musical features, as well as shareability features that will let users share the app and their scores via social media.

• Honorable Mention o Bye, Bye, Stress – Kaitlyn Yeung & Teammates (Alhambra)

▪  Team from Alhambra High School

▪  Their app was designed to help users relieve stress because as high 
school students, they know the incredible amount of stress that their peers deal with on a daily basis. As a result, the group wanted to create a simple game to help students relieve stress while they took a break from their hectic schedules. For that reason, the team created a game with two different activities: a snake game and a coloring book. The snake game takes your mind off the world’s troubles by focusing your attention on catching as many mice as possible. The coloring book offers a more relaxing game by providing various images for users to color. The key difference to their game is there is no right or wrong answer. Individuals can color freely whether they want to stay within the lines or color outside the lines. By creating a no-penalty game, less stress hormones are produced, and the symptoms of intense fight or flight response will not be triggered. It is so important for high schoolers to manage their stress because it will allow them to better succeed in school. That is why an app like this can really make a difference in student’s lives.

• Honorable Mention o Full STEAM Ahead – Alyssa Ho and Brennan Ho (Pasadena)

▪  This is a team of 2 siblings from California School of the Arts – San Gabriel Valley

▪  The concept of their app hits on a critical problem in STEAM, and that is the lack of diversity, equity and access in the field. These two siblings work hard to resolve this deficiency by helping students find both mentors and other students who are interested in this critical field. The app is very easy to use and provides guidance to users who are trying to find a STEAM team or start one up on their own. It also provides resources on learning how to be a successful team through videos, tutorials, and workshops. On top of that, the mentor matching component helps students find working professionals in their neighboring regions who have similar interests and backgrounds. This app will ultimately allow students to get involved in STEAM but also help mentors expand and recruit students into STEAM careers.

• Honorable Mention o Zombie Invasion – Nick Li & Teammates (Monterey Park)

▪  Nick and teammates are 8th graders at Ynez Elementary School

▪  These young students decided to create an app that was inspired by some of their favorite video games. They did a wonderful job of developing a game that puts the player right in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. The player than has to use his wits and quick 
reflexes to defeat the zombies and survive for as long as possible.

▪  The player can switch between the different weapons: machine gun 
or pistol to defeat the varying zombies

• Honorable Mention o Journey to School – Diya Srivastava, Geraldine Cruz, Jessalin Jiangkhov, Duy Le (Alhambra)

▪  Students of Alhambra High School

▪  The purpose of their app is to educate users about education in 
third world countries and the difficulties children face

▪  The app is an interactive journey for users to learn about the 
challenges student in third world countries face in their journey to 
school

▪  The team of students who designed the app all come from diverse 
backgrounds. Each student’s parents are immigrants which inspired the coders to create an app that will help awareness