MediRemind wins Rep. Alan Lowenthal’s (CA-47) 2020 Congressional App Challenge

When asked what inspired the creation of MediRemind, the students said, “As of 2020, 5.8 million Americans (ages 65 and older) struggle due to memory impairment illnesses, such as Alzheimer’s and dementia, which severely deteriorate their quality of life. Our app aims to combat this by reminding elders of when to take these imperative medications and also offering entertaining activities that could also help stimulate their brain and mobile activity. With two of our members having a grandmother suffering from Alzheimer’s, we wanted to create this app to help them and anyone else that may be suffering from such illnesses.”  

Over 6,500 students registered for the 2020 Congressional App Challenge. These students created and submitted 3,088 functioning apps, marking the end of an extremely successful Congressional App Challenge amid the COVID-19 pandemic. All told, 308 Members of Congress hosted Congressional App Challenges in their districts across 49 states, Puerto Rico, the Mariana Islands, and Washington, DC.

The CAC is an initiative of the U.S. House of Representatives, where Members of Congress host competitions 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 Internet Education Foundation provides the CAC with supplemental support. In the six years of the Congressional App Challenge, thousands of functional apps have been created by over 30,000 students, and participant demographics surpass all industry diversity metrics.