BladeView wins Rep. Stephen F. Lynch’s 2024 Congressional App Challenge in Massachusetts’ Eighth District
Rep. Stephen F. Lynch has named Kathy Lin, a tenth grader at Buckingham Browne and Nichols, as the winner of the 2024 Congressional App Challenge in Massachusetts’ Eighth District.
When asked what inspired the creation of BladeView, the student said, “I am very interested in renewable energy and climate change. I knew that wind turbines were an important source of green energy, producing around 10% of the United States’ electricity. During the summer, I heard on the news that a wind turbine blade in Nantucket had broken off and there were pieces of fiberglass all over the beaches, which affected lots of the people vacationing there, including one of my friends who spent lots of time over the summer there. I did some research online about wind turbines, and I found that these failures are not rare. Every year, there are more than 3800 blade failures globally, and many other small issues. I came to the conclusion that more frequent maintenance would help address this issue. However, maintenance is only being done on wind turbines 2-3 times a year, because workers have to manually climb up the wind turbine to do inspections. It is also dangerous for the workers, especially on offshore wind turbines which can have very high wind speeds and are hard to reach. I decided to create this app to help increase the frequency of maintenance done on wind turbines. Using my app, all of the inspection of the wind turbine can be done without actually having to send people up to check.”
This year’s Congressional App Challenge set new records, with an unprecedented 382 Members of the House of Representatives hosting competitions—surpassing the previous high of 374. An incredible 12,682 students from across the country participated, representing a growth of over 1,000 students compared to 2023. These talented students submitted an astounding 3,881 original applications, showcasing their creativity, passion for technology, and the limitless potential of America’s next generation of innovators. This surge in participation reflects the increasing excitement around STEM and highlights a bright future for American innovation.
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 the Broadcom Foundation, AWS, Rise, theCoderSchool, Apple, and others.
The 2024 Congressional App Challenge will launch in May of 2025, and eligible students can pre-register for the competition now.