MnewNote wins Rep. Jose “Lou” Correa’s 2022 Congressional App Challenge in California’s 46th District
Rep. Jose “Lou” Correa has named Jessica Nguyen of Garden Grove High School, Henry Vu of Garden Grove High School, and Jasmine Chau of Garden Grove High School as the winners of the 2022 Congressional App Challenge in California’s 46th District.
When asked what inspired the creation of MnewNote, the students said, ”We noticed, through our peers and ourselves, that many people struggle with studying, whether it be finding motivation, being able to focus, or just finding the right study method. There are many students out there who spend hours studying but do not get the results they are looking for because they are studying inefficiently. Efficient studying should combine effective techniques in addition to a balanced routine with frequent breaks. We took into consideration a plethora of scientifically proven study methods, tried using them ourselves, before implementing them into an easy-to-use app. Our app combines proven study techniques with a Pomodoro timer to maximize productivity plus reduce mental burnout. In addition, we also took into consideration psychological studies on the benefits of rewards and incentives into motivating students to learn. Therefore, we decided to add an economy system with “Stars” as a currency for students to purchase collectibles. We hope a combination of efficient study methods and a rewards system will motivate our peers, allow them to study effectively, and score well on their exams.”
The Congressional App Challenge smashed previous participation records in 2022. All told, 9,011 students registered for this year’s competition – creating 2,707 fully-functioning apps for 335 Members of Congress across 50 states, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Mariana Islands, American Samoa, and the District of Columbia. This year’s competition set the record for most student registrations, most apps submitted, most apps per district submitted, and most districts receiving over 20 apps. The wildly successful competition continues to impress upon House Members the importance of computer science education and the need to develop a pipeline of diverse, domestic STEM talent.
The Congressional App Challenge is an official 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. Each participating Member of Congress selects a winning app from their district, and each winning team is invited to showcase their winning app to Congress during our annual #HouseOfCode festival. The program is a public-private partnership made possible through funding from Omidyar Network, AWS, Rise, theCoderSchool, Apple, and others.
The 2023 Congressional App Challenge will launch in June of 2023, and eligible students can pre-register for the competition now.