TranquilTally wins Rep. Hillary Scholten’s 2023 Congressional App Challenge in Michigan’s Third District
Rep. Scholten has named Alexis Zhang and Aadit Shrivastava of Newark Academy as the winners of the 2023 Congressional App Challenge in Michigan’s Third District.
When asked what inspired the creation of TranquilTally, the students said, “The inspiration for creating this website stemmed from our team’s personal journey of battling mental health challenges. During this process we had many candid conversations about our shared frustration with the stress-inducing methods of self-care that often make it harder to improve mental health. As a team, we noticed that many existing platforms and approaches were overly complex, demanding, or overwhelming. We believed that there had to be a better way to promote mental well-being. We were inspired to develop a user-friendly, stress-free alternative that simplifies the process of self-care through quick surveys, none of the pressures on being consistent, and easy display of the users mental health. Our goal was to create a platform that takes the burden out of self-care and instead, makes it an enjoyable and effective journey towards better mental well-being.”
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.