Press Releases

(Honolulu, HI) – Congressman Ed Case (HI-01) today announced the winners of his 2023 Congressional App Challenge for Hawai‘i’s First Congressional District at a reception at the Entrepreneurs Sandbox in Kaka‘ako.

“The Challenge is a great opportunity for our local students to focus their skills and creativity on developing, testing and analyzing new applications for real-world use,” said Case. “Congratulating the winners at the Sandbox, which is described as ‘Hawaii’s community hub to inspire creativity, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship’, will hopefully also open the students’ minds to possibilities beyond their imagination.”

“And results of this year’s Challenge prove once again that they have the skill set, imagination and resolve to compete against the best of our young people nationwide in science, technology, engineering and math, along with the potential to lead the next generations of computer science and technology.” 

The winners for Hawaii’s First Congressional District:

1^st Place – Jaylen Rabago of DreamHouse ‘Ewa Beach, a public charter school

Grade: 10

Instructor: Coach Cerina Livaudais

App: SpeakSafe

Video: https://vimeo.com/880351700?share=copy

Summary, according to the creators:

“My app, SpeakSafe, aims to bring awareness to women's safety and help them feel empowered and secure in their daily lives. The main feature of this app is the voice recording library. The voice recording library in SpeakSafe is designed to provide a sense of security by creating the illusion of an ongoing conversation, which can help deter potential attackers. Additionally, the 'panic' button enhances the app by instantly alerting loved ones of the user’s location when faced with dangerous situations.

“What inspired me to create this app was the experiences of myself and my loved ones. As a woman, sometimes it feels unsafe to navigate certain situations or environments. Through conversations with people in my community, I realized that many women share similar concerns and fears. I wanted to develop an app that could provide a sense of security and empowerment for women, encouraging them to feel more confident and in control of their personal safety. I have also found that there are often situations where someone feels uncomfortable or threatened, but not threatened enough where calling 911 or using a defense weapon (i.e. pepper spray) would be necessary.

“This motivated me to create an app that not only addresses these issues but also offers a practical solution. By leveraging technology, I aim to bridge the gap between feeling vulnerable and having a reliable tool to enhance personal safety. Nearly everyone I know carries a phone with them all the time, which means that they can also carry my app to feel safer in any situation.”

2^nd Place – Jeremiah So of Christian Academy

Grade: 8

Instructor: n/a

App: Maui Fire

Video: https://youtu.be/8R1qkoVSre4

Summary, according to the creator:

“My app, Maui Fire, https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/903942140/ , encourages and spreads awareness to help the people of Maui through the tragic fire that happened not too long ago. There is information on the island itself, information on how to help, like what websites and organizations to choose from, and lastly there are some games that you can play for fun. The three websites to the funds to support Maui are, The Shelter Relief Fund, https://www.firstaog.com/shelter-relief-fund/, The People's Fund of Maui, https://www.eifoundation.org/peoples-fund-of-maui/ and Maui Strong Bank of Hawaii, https://www.boh.com/philanthropy/maui-strong.

“There are four games to play, the first one is called Fight the Flames, you as the Scratch cat carries a bucket of water and little fires are going to pop up all around the screen. Your job is to walk around and press the space key to pour the water and to get as many flames out in 60 seconds. The next game is called Fix the Lines. The goal of the game is to climb the pole as fast as you can and then fix the wires by dragging them together according to their color. Then there is Water the Ground where you are a rain cloud and the goal of this game is to water all of the plants and to keep them from drying and catching on fire. The faster you finish the better because this game is timed also.

“And lastly there is Evacuation Stampede. You are in an endless loop of running and you have to avoid obstacles like a cone or barrier. For cones, you need to jump over them and for barriers, you can slide under them. Try to keep on running as long as you can to beat the high score. 

“News of the Maui Fire inspired me to make this project. At my church, they were talking about helping Maui and every week they would mention giving to The Shelter Relief fund. According to https://www.firstaog.com/shelter-relief-fund/ , The Shelter Relief fund's "campaign is created to bring relief efforts on behalf of those who need transitional housing due to natural disaster or crisis. This fund will allow the Shelter to purchase domes that will help those in need of housing on a temporary basis. We were hoping for the first twelve domes to be deployed to Maui in the near future." I contributed to the shelter relief fund but I wanted to do even more to help those in need, so I created this project.”

3rd Place – Jinghao Li and Kekoa Dung of Island Pacific Academy

Grade: 10

Instructor: Dr. Devon Widmer

App: PyQuCryptor

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6IaMa5cwB0

Summary, according to the creators:

“PyQuCryptor is a modern, post-quantum encryption software written in Python 3.12 (compatible with 3.11) using the PyCryptoDome and HashLib cryptographic libraries. It uses AES-256-CTR for encryption, PBKDF2-SHA3-256 for encryption key derivation, and SHA3-512 for integrity authentication and validation as well as AES-CTR’s built in authentication. This application is designed specifically for Windows 10 and 11 as Python 3.12 only supports those versions. Our project is free and open-source software, licensed under the BSD 3-Clause No-Nuclear license (Same as the standard BSD 3-Clause, except for the no-nuclear clause which warns against, not prohibits, using it in a nuclear facility [Yes, this is a joke]).

“My inspiration came from an early build of an "encryption" software that I had made in Python. It uses AES-256-GCM instead of CTR and had no authentication tag, but uses the built in authentication of GCM mode that it operates in. And for the purpose/implementation of that software, it didn't need authentication. The encryption key was originally stored in a file called encr_key.txt which has been encrypted using 16384-bit RSA. But since all current public/private key (which RSA is) crypto-systems are not quantum resistant, this made it so that it was possible to recover the 256-bit encryption key via a quantum attack against the RSA key used to encrypt the cipher text. I have a lot of experience with cryptography as I have dealt with 7-Zip's AES-256 encryption, BitLocker device encryption, and VeraCrypt volume encryption, I am also running my own website supporting HTTPS (with TLS v1.3/v1.2) and a valid digital certificate from Let's Encrypt, and I run my own VPN servers based off of the ShadowSocks, OpenVPN, and WireGuard protocols.”

The Entrepreneurs Sandbox is Hawaii’s front door to creativity, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship. This 13,500 square foot collaboration facility was developed in 2019 to inspire all, by the Hawaii Technology Development Corporation, a State agency attached to the Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism. Together with Hub Coworking Hawaii, the space is made available to bring community together through networking, educational, business training, and coworking opportunities.   

Attachments:

·      Picture of 1st place winner Jaylen Rabago of DreamHouse ‘Ewa Beach, a public charter school, with U.S. Rep. Ed Case  

·      Picture of 2^nd place winner Jeremiah So of Christian Academy  (in Moanalua), with U.S. Rep Ed Case

·      Picture of 3^rd place winner Jinghao Li of Island Pacific Academy (in Kapolei), with U.S. Rep. Ed Case. Missing is teammate Kekoa Dung.

·      Group photo with winners, judges, friends and family and U.S. Rep. Ed Case

·      U.S. Rep. Ed Case with Jeremiah So at the Entrepreneurs Sandbox

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