CrownCatch wins Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (NY-14) 2020 Congressional App Challenge

When asked what inspired the creation of CrownCatch, the student said, “I created CrownCatch in March 2020, during the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in the US, when businesses began to close, cities went into lockdown, and students quickly switched to remote learning. Public health messages on guidance about COVID at that time were changing rapidly. I wanted to help people make sense of these guidelines and turn these pessimistic forced mandates into a game that could serve as a distraction and provide some level of enjoyment.”

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.