First In Health wins Rep. Lauren Boebert’s 2023 Congressional App Challenge in Colorado’s Third District
Rep. Boebert has named Nkechi Onyejekwe of Pueblo West High School and Sahasra Nandela of Green Hope High School as the winners of the 2023 Congressional App Challenge in Colorado’s Third District.
When asked what inspired the creation of First In Health, the students said, “As women of color, we aspire to use our coding skills to help first-generation students and minority students pursue healthcare opportunities to further diversify the healthcare of our country today and to help alleviate the present medial disparities that affect marginalized identities. Health is an integral part of American society, however, disparities in this field isolate minorities and low-income individuals from pursuing a career in this field. However, our healthcare system should reflect the vast socioeconomic and racial diversity of the American public; and this starts with first providing information on the existing disparities in health and creating a hub for marginalized identities to receive information about academic opportunities built to create greater access into the medical field. As Kode with Klossy alumni and future innovators, we wanted to use our coding skills to bring awareness to bias in healthcare and use our programming skills to create equitable change for minorities.”
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.