SAT Organizer wins Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick’s 2023 Congressional App Challenge in Florida’s 20th District
Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick has named Ethan Ortiz of Pompano Beach High School and Christen Borrero of Pompano Beach High School as the winners of the 2023 Congressional App Challenge in Florida’s 20th District.
When asked what inspired the creation of SAT Organizer, the students said, “As fellow students, we know how much of a struggle it is to organize our studying days for an upcoming SAT. Due to this disorganization, we did not receive the scores we were expecting. We said to ourselves, “What could we possibly do to increase the chances of getting higher scores?” It then came to us that we could organize our schedule in a calendar to motivate us and remind us that we have to study certain days. We began using the Calendar app on our phones to keep track of our schedules. Unsurprisingly, our next SAT scores were what we were expecting. This ultimately motivated us to create our own SAT app to help others in need.”
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.