Courserr wins Rep. Randy Feenstra’s 2024 Congressional App Challenge in Iowa’s Fourth District

When asked what inspired the creation of Courserr, the students said, “For many entering Ames High School, the prospect of an exciting 4-year educational journey is the focus for the students and the students’ families. Yet, this excitement is often undermined by the stress and worry of selecting the ‘perfect’ schedule, with the most suitable teachers and coursework. As incoming freshmen, the three of us went through the same experience of frantic searching, consulting, and confusion when it came to our course selection. 2 years later, our team revisited this experience and identified a need to create an accessible, navigable, and user-friendly app for both PC and mobile that would allow students and student families to gain a deeper knowledge of high school courses. Moreover, we wanted to create this app as a template that can be applied to other schools that seek solutions to this issue. Courserr is meant to be an intuitive and user-friendly solution to this ever-present issue. Courserr is an all-in-one app sporting a course catalog and course reviews, with accessible links to Ames High activities and the official Ames High course selection handbook. 

Our three-month journey of researching and coding this project allowed us to gain valuable insight into the importance of an app like Courserr. We were inspired by student and teacher anecdotes, existing software, and other passionate coders to solve this community-wide issue. Currently, we are looking to collaborate with the Ames High administration to transform this app into a working resource for years to come. We are incredibly thankful for the support and opportunity the Congressional App Challenge has offered us.”