connectChange wins Rep. William Timmons’ (SC-04) 2020 Congressional App Challenge

Rep. William Timmons has named Kritika Ravichander from Southside High School as the winner of the 2020 Congressional App Challenge in (SC-04).

When asked what inspired the creation of connectChange, the student said, “I was inspired after seeing all the posts on social media for petitions and links to causes, but no real way to tell what was real/helpful, and what wasn’t. I wanted a platform geared specifically towards activism so one can know reliably what was helpful to others and what wasn’t, and which would help to inform people on causes that matter most to them.”

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.