2nd wins Rep. Brad Sherman’s 2023 Congressional App Challenge in California’s 32nd District

When asked what inspired the creation of 2nd, the students said, “This project is a deeply personal journey for us. Jerry and I have a shared family friend who lives in China, his name is Terris. We knew each other’s family well and we visited each other’s homes quite frequently. But in all the times in Terris’ house, something that always caught our attention was Terris’s grandmother. Terris’s grandmother was born blind, but that did not stop her from finding her way in the world, both physically and mentally. Through years of slow and gradual adaptation, she was able to live a joyful life, raising 4 children with Terris’s grandfather. Jerry and I always felt internally impressed and awe-struck by the sheer determination she has to keep striving forward and create for herself a happy existence even though her unfortunate circumstances tried to hold her back. However, it was not until this summer that we talked about our internal feelings with each other. We have grown a lot since our time in China, and by that point, we felt that we needed to do something to help those that are in a similar situation to Terris’s grandmother. Terris’s grandmother was fortunate in the sense that she had great support in the form of a caring husband and their economic status was well, however not all that are visually impaired can enjoy such prospects in life. Arriving at this conclusion, we decided to do some research into what forms of assistance are available to the visually impaired and blind people to see if our worries were superficial. We were in turn met by empty searches and a severe lack of attention paid to this issue. Appalled by the minimal support systems that these groups of people receive, we strove to create a tool that can be of service and support to the people in a similar situation to our dear friend’s grandmother.”