HCBE Alerts Wins Rep. Scott’s (GA-08) 2019 Congressional App Challenge
Rep. Austin Scott has named three Warner Robins students as the winner of the Congressional App Challenge in Georgia\’s 8th district. Houston County High School’s Somtochukwu Nwagbata, Cheluchi Nwagbata and Bayabya Joshi submitted HCBE, an app designed to alert all school staff and School Resource Officers(SRO) of any emergency going on campus.
When asked why they were passionate about creating an app that focuses on school safety the students replied, “During the power outage, the PA systems weren\’t working, and the administrators had to get a bullhorn and go down every hall in my school in order to announce the drill. This event got me thinking about how school emergency management should be managed digitally as we\’re in the digital age.” 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.