Lift Life wins Rep. Daniel Webster’s 2023 Congressional App Challenge in Florida’s 11th District
Rep. Webster has named Shiva Sambandam, a seventh grader at Lake Highland Preparatory School, as the winner of the 2023 Congressional App Challenge in Florida’s 11th District
When asked what inspired the creation of Lift Life, the student said, “I have a personal connection to living with a disability. My disabled aunt who had a brain injury and now has speech problems and quadriplegia lives in Port Charlotte, Florida. She requires full physical support for mobility, feeding, and 24-hour caretaker support. There are times when there are limited support helpers and my family does it on their own. My family tries to find creative solutions and do their best to help my aunt with her needs by sourcing resources from caretaker support to handicap equipment.
We are always trying to find resources to help her make it through her days. I realize there are a lot of people in the same boat in varying degrees and are looking for help whether it be mobility aids, hygiene devices, or patient/caretaker support. This unmet need is what led me to make this app with the company, Lift Disability.”
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.