Rachel Kim wins Rep. Josh Gottheimer’s 2024 Congressional App Challenge in New Jersey’s Fifth District

When asked what inspired the creation of Particulate Prognostics, the student said, “The inspiration for creating this app came from my personal experience with hazardous PM2.5 levels. On June 7th, 2023, I stepped out of my high school in Bergen County, New Jersey to find the sky coated in an eerie orange color, a sight I had never seen before and never imagined could be possible. Earlier that day, my classmates and I had received warnings from our teachers about smoke from Canada’s wildfires, but until that moment I failed to understand how an environmental crisis thousands of miles away could manifest into the sky and impact my own community at such a huge scale. Before heading outside, I noticed a single box of thin, blue masks placed on a table near my school’s entrance. Many students walked past them, unaware of the seriousness of the situation, highlighting how unprepared my community was for such an unprecedented event. As I stepped outside, the reality hit me even harder as I found it difficult to breathe, the weight of this seemingly post-apocalyptic scene sinking in.

As I stood with my friends, staring at the scene above us, we made cautious jokes about living in a reality with no more blue skies, each of us fully afraid of this scenario becoming a reality. In that moment, the reality of our environmental vulnerability made me realize that the warnings from the Environmental Protection Agency are not just cautions, but they are real, tangible threats that can reach us scarily fast. This moment was a turning point for me, helping me realize my passion for climate activism and driving me to create something that could help others stay informed and aware. This app is my way of contributing to the fight against environmental crises by making information accessible and actionable for everyone.”