CarbonCalc wins Rep. Lori Trahan’s 2023 Congressional App Challenge in Massachusetts’s Third District
Rep. Trahan has named Madisyn Koza, an 11th grader at Greater Lowell Technical High School, as the winner of the 2023 Congressional App Challenge in Massachusetts’s Third District.
When asked what inspired the creation of CarbonCalc, the student said, “It is estimated that climate change will become irreversible by the year 2030, a shocking statistic which I learned in my environmental science class this year. By then I’ll be 24 years old and will have a whole life ahead of me. If people don’t start doing something to combat this issue now, I will have to spend the rest of my life facing the negative consequences of global warming and so will the generations that come after me. Since carbon emissions are the biggest factor contributing to this issue, I decided to create an app that educates people on what their carbon footprint is, how it contributes to the environment, and ways it can be reduced. Although making the small changes the app suggests to our daily lives like taking public transport instead of driving by ourselves doesn’t seem to make a huge difference, if everyone starts making these changes we can collectively lower carbon emissions and put the brakes on global warming. The more educated the general public is about global warming, the more effective solutions to decreasing carbon emissions will be.”
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.