EZinterview wins Rep. Erin Houchin’s 2023 Congressional App Challenge in Indiana’s Ninth District
Rep. Houchin has named Rebecca Kwon, an 11th Grader at Bloomington High School South, as the winner of the 2023 Congressional App Challenge in Indiana’s Ninth District.
When asked what inspired the creation of EZinterview, the student said, “Interviews are scary! I had done my first interview this year for an internship, and it was nerve-wracking. However, instead of letting my fears conquer my life, I looked for common interview questions and what good responses were like to those questions. I got out a pen and paper and started writing down my responses to these questions and practiced them. After getting a sense of what I wanted to say and what to highlight about myself, I felt prepared and comfortable doing my interview. Furthermore, I wanted to help my fellow peers feel confident in their abilities to do interviews. As high school students, we are starting to learn who we are and how to navigate the world by ourselves. But rather than facing tough challenges alone, I wanted to share a tool that would help students. EZinterview is not just an app, but a tool that propels students to challenge and prepare themselves for strenuous tasks they adventure to take on.”
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.