Students from the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts took the top two places in the 2022 Congressional App Challenge sponsored by Forth Congressional District Rep. Bruce Westerman.
The Congressional App Challenge is an annual event in which middle and high school students across the country design and code their own original apps. It is an official initiative of the U.S. House of Representatives, where members of Congress host contests in their districts, encouraging students 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 the annual #HouseofCode festival.
Senior Vicky Zhu won first place for her app called StreBit. The app helps a user determine how flexible they are. The camera-based app allows the user to keep track of their progress. The app is a result of Zhu’s Capstone project.
Taking second place was the team of juniors Geoffrey Williams, Jayden Patel, James Mathis and Zechariah Cleaver for their app Study Farm, a study aid designed to help users stay focused on their work. The app has a timer that allows a student to play a simple farm-themed game every 30 minutes as a break from studying. After five minutes of break time, the game stops for the student to return to their schoolwork. The cycle repeats itself until the designated study time has passed.
Westerman announced the winners at an event on Nov. 30. There were 21 apps submitted for the competition from ASMSA, Dardanelle High School, Lakeside High School and Lake Hamilton High School.