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Case Announces Winners of 2020 Congressional App Contest

The annual competition in most Congressional districts recognizes local student App creations

(Honolulu, HI) -  Congressman Ed Case (HI-01) today announced the winners of his 2nd annual Congressional App Challenge for Hawaii’s First Congressional District.

“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. 

“And results of this year’s Challenge prove 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 include:

1st Place                       Tony Dang 

Grade:                          12th grader, Iolani School

App:                              Glaucomark

Video:                           Glaucomark: Congressional App Challenge 2020 YouTube 

Summary:                     This web application is based on deep learning that offers a handy and cost-worthy glaucoma exam that is available to everyone with access to the Internet. Users only need to upload a picture of a retina taken by any smartphone with a 20D lens that costs only 10 dollars.

2nd Place                      Harvey Lloyd Picar, Reyan Lee, Destiny Shishido and Kristine Orpilla 

Grade:                          12th graders, Waipahu High School

App:                              ClubHub

Video:                           2020 Congressional App Challenge: ClubHub -YouTube

Summary:                    This is a website was designed specifically for Waipahu High School students to find out everything about the clubs they signed up for as members, as well as other extra-curricular activities offered by the school.

 

3rd Place                       Xhavier Teocson, Kalani Ashton Agustin, Jett Marco Palacpac and Aaron Moises Paned

Grade:                          12th graders, Waipahu High School

App:                              Studentjobapp

Video:                           Congressional App Challenge 2020-"studentjobapp" Demo - YouTube

Summary:                     This App provides a simple way for students and minors to find part-time job listings and reaches out to companies that are looking for applicants interested in part-time work.

 

Honorable Mention:     Kieri Isara

Grade:                          8th grader, Ewa Makai Middle School

App:                              What’s Next

Video:                           What’s Next App on Vimeo

Summary:                     This App was designed to help students in Middle School from 6th through 8th grade to organize their schoolwork as they undertake distance learning.

“While I congratulate all 33 student participants in this year’s App Challenge who submitted a total of 13 Apps, I also want to extend my gratitude to the volunteer judges this year: Sarah Tran-Leony, an electrical engineer with Oceanit; Ray Tsuchiyama, business and real estate consultant, and Kelsi Nichols, the Operations Manager for Nalu Scientific,” said Case.

The Congressional App Challenge is an official national  initiative of the U.S. House of Representatives, in which Members of Congress host contests in their districts for middle and high school students, and the winner is invited to showcase the winning application at the United States Capitol and on the U.S. House website. The Challenge encourages students to learn code and inspires them to pursue careers in computer science.

Every spring winning teams are highlighted on Capitol Hill where they demo their apps to their Representatives at a celebration called #HouseOfCode.

It’s the most prestigious demo day in student STEM — the new national science fair. At #HouseOfCode students get to see their apps displayed in the U.S. Capitol Building, meet their Representatives, and connect with other coders from around the country.

The next #HouseOfCode will be held in Spring 2021, and due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, may be remote in nature.

NOTE: An application is a type of software that allows a person to perform specific tasks.  Applications for desktop or laptop computers are sometimes called desktop applications, while those for mobile devices are called mobile apps.

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