To Do wins Rep. Shontel Brown’s 2023 Congressional App Challenge in Ohio’s 11th District
Rep. Brown has named Philip Golczak, an 11th grader at Mayfield High School, as the winner of the 2023 Congressional App Challenge in Ohio’s 11th District.
When asked what inspired the creation of To Do, the student said, ‘I was inspired to create To Do when I heard stories from my peers concerning their workloads and how they were sacrificing their sleep and health in an attempt to complete their assignments. At school, I noticed this unhealthy trend slowly becoming the norm among students taking a rigorous course load. Thus, I created this app to remind both myself and my peers that work can be done in a way that does not sacrifice one’s physical and mental well-being and to help those struggling with managing their time in a way that allows them to be the most productive without feeling overworked. I hope that through this app a great deal of stress and mental anguish can be avoided and that all people, and especially students, can learn to manage their time in a healthier way.”
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.