Make It! wins Rep. Michael McCaul’s 2023 Congressional App Challenge in Texas’s 10th District
Rep. McCaul has named Ava Sadasivan, a 12th grader at St. Stephen’s Episcopal School, as the winner of the 2023 Congressional App Challenge in Texas’s 10th District.
When asked what inspired the creation of Make It!, the student said,
“PREMISE:
In our increasingly technology-driven world, quality stem education for all ages and skill levels is crucial for fostering innovation and solving complex global challenges. From healthcare advancements to cybersecurity, in order to address global challenges and drive continued progress, it is critical that students have access to quality STEM education. However, K-12 STEM education is unequal across the nation, with many low-income rural and urban institutions struggling due to a lack of resources. Furthermore, even in schools with quality resources, STEM curriculums often involve learning from a boring textbook or passive lectures. This is shown to not be as effective at fostering critical thinking and nurturing enthusiasm for STEM as project-based learning.
RESEARCH
To find a way of improving the enjoyment and accessibility of STEM education, I conducted research by interviewing my teachers and fellow students and reading online articles. One of the best ways to get students excited about STEM and to learn useful, long-lasting skills is by having them design and build their own projects. Unfortunately, teachers are bound by time and curriculum constraints that don’t allow them to assign many projects throughout the school year. Furthermore, students who want to pursue projects on their own are met by a high-cost barrier for materials and a knowledge barrier.
SOLUTION
I came up with the idea of Make It! to help both students and teachers overcome the cost and resource barrier to pursuing independent projects. For every project a user is recommended, they already have the materials and a detailed tutorial.”
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.