Mission: Xplore Science wins Rep. Bill Foster’s (IL-11) 2020 Congressional App Challenge

Rep. Bill Foster has named Alayna Nguyen, Rachel Shi, and Alice Li from Naperville North High School as the winners of the 2020 Congressional App Challenge in (IL-11).

When asked what inspired the creation of Mission: Xplore Science, the students said, “Our team wanted to build a platform where students can explore different topics in science that are usually not explored as in-depth in elementary and middle school. We firmly believe that education is the first step to change, and we hope that young students will become empowered to advocate for scientific research while using Mission: Xplore Science.”

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.