Parley wins Rep. Steven Horsford’s 2023 Congressional App Challenge in Nevada’s Fourth District
Rep. Horsford has named Christopher Lee, an 11th grader at Bishop Gorman High School, as the winner of the 2023 Congressional App Challenge in Nevada’s Fourth District.
When asked what inspired the creation of Parley, the student said, “As a high school student, I noticed that many teenagers, including myself, struggle to form original political opinions. It is much easier to regurgitate popular opinions on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube than to be an innovator. This is quite alarming, as the future leaders of the world must be politically opinionated and ready to defend their ideas with evidence and logic. Somewhere out there right now, the future President of the United States is scrolling through TikTok; although this is funny to think about, the root of the issue can be seen here. This app aims to attack this problem, by forcing users to converse about difficult political matters. The future leaders of the world must have the ability to understand perspectives outside of one’s own. This is a learned ability, putting the app in an educational category as much as a social one. Group work has always been my favorite part of school, and I created this app to mimic the benefits of working as a team. However, instead of the group being a small team of students with the goal of getting a project done, it is the entire world split in two with the goal of expanding perspective on essential matters.”
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.