VIP – Virtual Interactive Planner Wins Rep. Kim’s (NJ-03) 2019 Congressional App Challenge
Rep. Andy Kim has named three Point Pleasant students as the winner of the Congressional App Challenge in New Jersey’s 3rd district. Point Pleasant Borough High School’s Caitlyn Kuhn, Kaila McDonald and Nicolette Matthews submitted VIP – Virtual Interactive Planner, an app that’s a virtual agenda book for students of all ages to keep track of their assignments.
When asked why they were passionate about creating a planning app the students replied, “Kaila’s older sister has four kids, over the phone her sister told her that right now her kids are having an issue remembering what assignments they have to do, along with any papers teachers would like signed.” They hope to encourage other students to better their communities by using their computer science skills.
Over 10,000 students registered for the 2019 Congressional App Challenge. These students created and submitted 2,177 functioning apps, marking the end of the most successful Congressional App Challenge to date. All told, 304 Members of Congress hosted Congressional App Challenges in their districts across 48 states, Puerto Rico, the Mariana Islands, and Washington, D.C.
The CAC is an 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. The non-profit Internet Education Foundation provides the CAC with supplemental staffing and support. In the five years of the Congressional App Challenge, the program has yielded 1134 App Challenges across 48 states. Thousands of functional apps have been created by over 25,000 students, and participant demographics surpass all industry diversity metrics.