MLSentinel wins Rep. Mark Takano’s 2023 Congressional App Challenge in California’s 39th District
Rep. Takano has named Aiden Rheem of Martin Luther King Jr. High School, Rohan Vasireddy of Martin Luther King Jr. High School, and Emmanuel Pudussery of Riverside STEM High School as the winners of the 2023 Congressional App Challenge in California’s 39th District.
When asked what inspired the creation of MLSentinel, the students said, “After hearing several stories of porch pirates stealing packages from homes and robberies happening on local news networks, we were curious as to who this issue affected. After further exploration, we discovered that a majority of these thefts occurred in low-income areas. The videos that are normally seen of the robberies barely scratch the surface of the true numbers of how many packages are stolen and how individuals are affected financially and mentally by robberies. Therefore, we decided to create an application to assist the most vulnerable communities, ones who cannot afford the expensive and hard-to-implement security systems that are currently on the market. Our app, MLSentinel, utilizes the same technology used by many high-end security systems/cameras, such as AI/ML face detection and cloud video uploading. We made this app with the vision of supporting those who are already burdened by life’s other struggles.”
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.