Town Talk wins Rep. Cori Bush’s 2024 Congressional App Challenge in Missouri’s First District
Rep. Cori Bush has named Matthew Wasser and Elisha Dukes of Pattonville Senior High School as the winners of the 2024 Congressional App Challenge in Missouri’s First District.
When asked what inspired the creation of Town Talk, the students said, “As high school students, we feel social media often isolates students rather than bringing them together. Instead of communicating with their peers, students view each other’s accounts and make assumptions based on the limited information people post. More often than not, this fosters negativity and in some cases, can lead to cyberbullying. Due to this, going into development we knew we wanted to create an app that would truly bring people together. The question was: how? We changed concepts quite a few times, as we learned more about the technical feasibility of various ideas. For example, certain ideas like verifying public officials don’t work at scale. Eventually, we settled on a bulletin board design because it provided a good balance between a traditional social network that allows users to connect with their friends and a forum that allows users to connect with strangers worldwide. We then expanded this idea by implementing a map where users can explore feeds from around the world and see other cultures.”
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.