Reaping Rewards wins Rep. Pete Aguilar’s 2023 Congressional App Challenge in California’s 33rd District
Rep. Aguilar has named Michael Do, an 11th grader at Los Osos High School, as the winner of the 2023 Congressional App Challenge in California’s 33rd District.
When asked what inspired the creation of Reaping Rewards, the student said, “What inspired me to create this app was my motivation to help out my community. As I know economic and investing concepts already, my peers would tell me that it’s too much of a hassle to learn how to invest. Because of this, I knew they would miss out on a lot of opportunities, as well as lose hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars not learning this essential skill. Because of this, I decided to take it upon myself to create a fun game that taught people how to invest using my interests in computer science and business/economics. Teaching children/students how to invest at an early age can have drastic effects on them in the future for the better. To create this app, I used many algorithms used in real life economics to introduce topics such as credit score, loans, certificate of deposits, and more. This small idea eventually led to the creation of Reaping Rewards, an app/game that would help students learn business, economics, and finances while keeping it fun.”
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.