Polibite wins Rep. Paul Tonko’s 2024 Congressional App Challenge in New York’s 20th District
Rep. Paul Tonko has named Joshua Ko, Anthony Egan, and Atri Dey of Guilderland High School as the winners of the 2024 Congressional App Challenge in New York’s 20th District.
When asked what inspired the creation of Polibite, the students said, “As the 2024 election is coming up just around the corner, keeping up with changes in politics and legislation have become more crucial than ever before. However, we have realized many people feel overwhelmed when it comes to political information. Even our team, consisting of members who enjoy engaging in current events and politics, have felt overloaded with catching up on legislative information everyday. This is largely due to complex political jargon, the rise of misinformation, and the sheer amount of political information available on the internet. One day, while sitting in class, we asked ourselves an important question: why not connect our knowledge of computer science with our interest in politics? Ever since then, we have worked on this idea to use technology to bridge the widening gap between politics and the average U.S. citizen, making the process of being politically informed easier and quicker. After lots of brainstorming, we thought the best way to do this was through a political hub that can help the average person learn more about politics.
We also had personal inspiration to create this app since so our team and many of our peers are approaching the voting age. This motivated us because the work we put into this app could be used to help family, classmates, peers, teachers, and our team learn more about changes in Congress. We loved the fact that this app was capable of presenting relevant political information in small chunks. We also loved how we could encourage users to not just learn about politics but also to engage in discourse and activism about it. This potential for empowerment and action was a driving motivator for this app.
Ultimately, our inspiration was to create a tool that could help the U.S. population be more educated in politics, strengthening our democracy and encouraging people to engage in political discussion and activism.”
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.