Conant Map Wins Rep. Krishnamoorthi’s (IL-08) 2019 Congressional App Challenge

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi has named a Elk Grove Village student as the winner of the Congressional App Challenge in Illinois’s 8th district. J B Conant High School’s John Waity submitted Contact Map, an app that helps students navigate Conant High School.

When asked why they were passionate about creating a navigation app the student replied, “Before attending a public high school, I attended a small private school from kindergarten to eighth grade. Moving from a class size of under 50 to 600 was a bit overwhelming for me. I wanted to help ensure that other students could have a less overwhelming experience, with their transition.” The student hopes 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.