Qravings Wins Rep. Gomez’s (CA-34) 2019 Congressional App Challenge
Rep. Jimmy Gomez has named four Los Angeles students as the winner of the Congressional App Challenge in California’s 34th district. Alliance Ted K Tajima’s Dominic Castillo, Pablo Guzman, Luis Cristobal and Zurick Miranda submitted Qravings, an app whose purpose is to provide high school students in Los Angeles ages 15-18 an interactive way of viewing food options from family-run restaurants.
When asked why they were passionate about creating a food app the students replied, “During our dining experience, we ordered a dish that was nothing like the description. After spending $15 I was forced to eat the food because I didn’t want my money to go to waste. This app will spare others from experiencing an unfortunate dining situation such as this.” They hope to encourage other students to better their communities by using their computer science skills.
Over 10,000 students registered for the 2019 Congressional App Challenge. These students created and submitted 2,177 functioning apps, marking the end of the most successful Congressional App Challenge to date. All told, 304 Members of Congress hosted Congressional App Challenges in their districts across 48 states, Puerto Rico, the Mariana Islands, and Washington, D.C.
The CAC is an initiative of the U.S. House of Representatives, where Members of Congress host contests in their districts for middle school and high school students, encouraging them to learn to code and inspiring them to pursue careers in computer science. The non-profit Internet Education Foundation provides the CAC with supplemental staffing and support. In the five years of the Congressional App Challenge, the program has yielded 1134 App Challenges across 48 states. Thousands of functional apps have been created by over 25,000 students, and participant demographics surpass all industry diversity metrics.