Spoiler Alert! Wins Rep. Bonamici’s (OR-01) 2019 Congressional App Challenge
Rep. Suzanne Bonamici has named a Portland student as the winner of the Congressional App Challenge in Oregon’s 1st district. Westview High School’s Sanjana Llango submitted Spoiler Alert!, an app that scans the barcodes of food and medication to determine whether the product is safe to use.
When asked why the student was passionate about creating an app that promotes food safety the students replied,“I was inspired to create this app through my medical research at OHSU. I was working with foodborne pathogens to implement a natural cure for illnesses like salmonella. Eventually, I realized that a prevention method would be much more effective.” 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.