Got Covid wins Rep. Theodore “Ted” Deutch’s 2021 Congressional App Challenge in Florida’s 22nd District
Rep. Theodore “Ted” Deutch has named Tina Chi from Pompano Beach High School as the winner of the 2021 Congressional App Challenge in Florida’s 22nd District.
When asked what inspired the creation of Got Covid, the student said, “Since the start of the pandemic, I have always taken careful measurements to ensure that I avoid getting infected with the virus. However as time went on, I was infected. I didn’t know from where. I had to text everyone that I’ve recently come in contact with that I’ve gotten the virus. Unfortunately, some of them I fail to remember and that led to more spreading. As the Covid-19 case number increases, it was clear that the rapid spread was mainly through the reason that people are unaware they may have Covid-19. So, I created Got Covid in pursuit of simplifying the process for learning about the virus, logging down people, and notifying them if the user tests positive. I hope this app will combat Covid-19 by stopping the spread.”
The 2021 Congressional App Challenge yielded 2,101 fully functioning apps. After eighteen months of disruptions to educational cadences for students everywhere, the Congressional App Challenge came roaring back with 7,174 students registering for this year’s competition. All told, 340 Members of Congress hosted Congressional App Challenges in their districts across 50 states, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Washington, D.C.
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. 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, theCoderSchool, Facebook, Replit, Accenture, and others.
The 2022 Congressional App Challenge will launch in June of 2022, and eligible students can pre-register for the competition now.