RecycleRoad wins Rep. Greg Pence’s 2023 Congressional App Challenge in Indiana’s Sixth District
Rep. Pence has named Ishita Kute, an 11th grader at Columbus North High School, as the winner of the 2023 Congressional App Challenge in Indiana’s Sixth District.
When asked what inspired the creation of RecycleRoad, the student said, “Initially, I wanted to create an app that would make a regular task that is rather difficult more simple. Every Friday after school, our school’s Environmental Club sorts through the recycling bags that the janitors bring into a room, and makes sure no unwanted items are being recycled. As vice president of the club, I have participated in recycling for our school for the past three years. Every week without fail, nearly half of the material in the bags that are meant to be recycled are items that are meant to be thrown in the trash. This is something that would have gone unseen at our school had we not been checking. This proves the numerous places where this IS going unseen, directly harming the environment. In the long run, this serves to be a very severe issue that can be prevented only if people are aware of what to and what not to recycle, which is why I wanted to create this app to teach people in a fun way exactly that. Based on nationwide studies, an average of 20% of items in the recycling bins don’t belong there. At 1/5th of the total number, this is very high and something must be done to fix it, which is why I chose to take this approach to make my app for this challenge.”
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.