[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 198 (Tuesday, December 5, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1656]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      CONGRESSIONAL APP CHALLENGE

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                         HON. MICHAEL F. DOYLE

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 5, 2017

  Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, yesterday evening, 
I spoke via Skype with a number of young people in Pittsburgh who 
participated in the Congressional App Challenge in Pennsylvania's 14th 
Congressional District, which I have the honor to represent. I had the 
opportunity to commend all of them for participating in this year's App 
Challenge, and I announced the winning App in the 14th District 
competition.
  The Congressional App Challenge is a competition held each year in 
many congressional districts throughout the country. The Congressional 
App Challenge provides an opportunity for students who create their own 
apps for mobile, tablet, or computer devices to compete with other 
students and receive feedback from leading experts in the field. It's a 
great way for Congress to get kids interested in computer programming 
and technology-related careers. That's good for them, and it's good for 
our economy, which will depend more and more on such skills in the 
coming years.
  This is the first year I have had the pleasure of being involved with 
the Congressional App Challenge, and I hope there will be many more 
years to come. Events like this one serve to raise public awareness of 
the importance and value of quality STEM education programs.
  I would like to recognize the 14th District's outstanding student 
coders for 2017. The team from Montour High School consisting of Macen 
Perkins, Shane O'Malley, Derek Wassel, and Logan Hickey created an app 
that teaches students that coding languages are easy to understand and 
very fun with some time and practice. The team from Shadyside Academy 
consisting of Nick Zana, Fuad Youssef, Peter Wang, and Henry 
Friedlander created an app that executes all of the main functions of a 
planner, student ID, and document database. I am very proud of them 
all.
  The winner of year's 14th Congressional District App Challenge was 
the team from Shadyside Academy. Their app will be displayed in the 
U.S. Capitol and shown on the U.S. House of Representatives web site. 
They will also be invited to the House of Representatives' Code Demo 
Day reception in Washington in the coming months. In addition, Carnegie 
Mellon University has offered to give the 14th District App Challenge 
winners a tour of its facilities. This is a great opportunity for these 
students to explore the campus and to learn just how far their interest 
in coding can take them.
  I would like to acknowledge and thank the judges for this 
competition: Josh Lucas, co-founder of Work Hard Pittsburgh, Dr. 
Alexandros Labrinidis, professor at the University of Pittsburgh's 
School of Computing and Information, and Dr. Illah Nourbakhsh, 
professor at the Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute and 
director of the CREATE Lab.
  I would also like to thank the University of Pittsburgh for hosting 
tonight's event--and Carnegie Mellon University for hosting the winners 
for a tour of its facilities. These universities' support for the App 
Challenge speaks volumes about their commitment to education and the 
local community.
  Finally, I want to commend all of the participants in this year's App 
Challenge. I hope that the recognition will, in some small way, 
demonstrate to these young coders how much we value their efforts and 
skill. It is my hope that the students who participated in this year's 
competition will carry their interest in coding with them throughout 
their lives. I also hope that this competition and others like it 
across the country will continue to grow and attract many other local 
promising coders.

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