ARDD: Auto Retina Disease Detection wins Rep. Jennifer Wexton’s (VA-10) 2020 Congressional App Challenge
Rep. Jennifer Wexton has named Thomas Chia, Cindy Wu, and Sreya Devarakonda from Chantilly High School as the winners of the 2020 Congressional App Challenge in (VA-10).
When asked what inspired the creation of ARDD: Auto Retina Disease Detection, the students said, “According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 80% of all blindness is preventable. We knew that with AI, people at all income levels will be able to have their eyes properly screened. We wanted to help lead this change in the global goal of preventing and diagnosing eye diseases.”
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.