SafeSeat wins Rep. Andy Biggs’s 2023 Congressional App Challenge in Arizona’s Fifth District
Rep. Biggs has named Ronith Balusani, a seventh grader at Basis Chandler, as the winner of the 2023 Congressional App Challenge in Arizona’s Fifth District.
When asked what inspired the creation of SafeSeat, the student said, “I live in Arizona, and it gets very hot in the summer. Last summer, I saw a firetruck in an open parking lot. I saw the firefighters had opened a car and rescued a small child. Firefighters united the child with her mother; the mother was in tears. My dad and I spoke with one of the firefighters to find out and discovered that a 911 call was received reporting that someone found a child alone in a scorching car. They mentioned that they receive a lot of similar calls during the summer. Without quick action, children or pets may get severely injured or even die. This incident motivated me to find a way to help. I built a device called SafeSeat that alerts parents if they have forgotten their child in the car. After building the prototype of SafeSeat, I went to the local fire station to consult the firemen. They told me that it could save a lot of lives and provide a consistent source for sending notifications.”
This year’s Challenge saw an unprecedented level of participation, with 374 Members of the House of Representatives hosting competitions, surpassing the previous record of 340. A remarkable 11,334 students from across the United States competed in this year’s Challenge, marking an impressive increase of nearly 1,000 participants compared to the previous record set in 2019. The enthusiasm and creativity these students display is a testament to the growing interest in technology and signal a bright future for American innovation. The surge of ingenuity continued with a whopping 3,645 original applications flooding in, nearly a thousand more than the previous year’s high. This remarkable growth showcases the exceptional talent and innovation within our nation’s youth.
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. This resounding show of bipartisan support emphasizes the critical importance of STEM education in today’s rapidly evolving world. 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 2024 Congressional App Challenge will launch in May of 2024, and eligible students can pre-register for the competition now.