Calorie Balance wins Rep. Tom Cole’s 2023 Congressional App Challenge in Oklahoma’s Fourth District
Rep. Cole has named Ridwan Siddique of Norman North High School, Rahil Pasha of Mission San Jose High School, Alexander Papavassiliou of Norman North High School, and Andrew Zhang of Norman North High School as the winners of the 2023 Congressional App Challenge in Oklahoma’s Fourth District.
When asked what inspired the creation of Calorie Balance, the students said, “The inspiration behind developing the Calorie Balance app lies in our will to help others improve their health and diet. With conditions like obesity, diabetes, and heart disease becoming increasingly more common there is a growing awareness of the importance of managing calorie intake to avoid these illnesses. Calorie Balance aims to provide a convenient and centralized solution to this problem.
This app offers users a holistic and centralized method in which users can track nutritional information about their daily lives. Many other nutrient-based apps are aimed solely at one part of a person’s diet. However, the Calorie Balance app combines these factors into a single app. The Calorie Balance app makes it easy for users to record and track their calorie, carbohydrate, protein, and sugar intake as well as daily exercise.
The want to educate others is also a major inspiration for us to create this app. Many people lack awareness of the calorie content and nutritional value of the foods they consume. Through the Calorie Balance app users will know exactly how much of each macronutrient they will be consuming when eating food. This knowledge gives users the ability to make informed decisions about their diet and how they may want to change their daily intake.
Overall, the inspiration behind building the Calorie Balance app is to empower individuals to take control of their health by offering them a user-friendly tool to monitor and manage their calorie, carbohydrate, protein, and sugar intake, make informed dietary choices, and work towards their dietary goals. This app helps to address pressing health concerns and offers a practical solution in a world where health and nutrition are increasingly important.
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.