School Donation System Wins Rep. Doyle’s (PA-18) 2019 Congressional App Challenge
Rep. Michael Doyle has named four Elizabeth students as the winner of the Congressional App Challenge in Pennsylvania\’s 18th district. Jakob McCloskey, Zoey Clasen, Rebecca Dobosh and Raven Gorman submitted School Donation System, an app that facilitates and provides a way to redistribute and collect gently used school supplies.
When asked why they were passionate about creating an app that focuses on distributing school supplies the students replied, “In our school we noticed many teachers were unable to get supplies they needed for class. This and a strong desire to help our community in any way possible led us to creating the app. It allows people in need of donations to list specific supplies they need, and it will match donors to centers near them that are in need of their gently used supplies.\” 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.