EduSketch AI wins Rep. Ro Khanna’s 2023 Congressional App Challenge in California’s 17th District
Rep. Khanna has named Talus Leong, an 11th grader at Monta Vista High School, as the winner of the 2023 Congressional App Challenge in California’s 17th District.
When asked what inspired the creation of EduSketch AI, the student said, “While researching for another project, I found a report by Stanford that showed art education having a significant benefit in the overall level of education of children. As someone who put art aside in order to spend time on other subjects, this inspired me to build some kind of app that would assist aspiring artists, especially children. Children are easily influenced by what they see from a young age, and I wanted to keep them interested in the arts by fueling their imagination. This was the groundwork to the main idea behind my app, and I looked for ways to accomplish this. I eventually settled on leveraging generative AI to transform half-complete artworks or sketches of children, or anyone in general, into masterpieces, that would hopefully give them a new point of view on their artworks, and inspire them to become more creative and interested in art.”
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.