NEW YORK (TIP) : Bianca Jain, a 9th-grade Indian American student of Briarcliff High School in New York, has won the prestigious Congressional App Challenge for the state’s 17th District.
Bianca’s app, Cancer Awareness Hub, was inspired by the recent diagnosis of a community librarian with cancer. That revelation inspired her to think of ways she could prevent increases in cancer cases.
Mike Lawler, US Representative for the district visited the school to congratulate Jain recently. “I had the opportunity to congratulate Bianca in person at her school last week,” said Lawler. “As someone who has lost members of their family to cancer, I was personally moved by Bianca’s app, which raises awareness about different types of cancer to help detect and combat this deadly disease.”
Jain’s app was chosen by a panel of expert judges and will be featured on CongressionalAppChallenge.us. The winning app is also eligible to be on display in the US Capitol, along with the winners from across the country.
Officially launched by the US House of Representatives in 2015, the Congressional App Challenge allows students to compete against their peers by creating an application for desktop/PC, web, tablet, mobile, raspberry Pi or other devices.
It accepts any programming language, such as C, C++, Java, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, or “block code.” The Challenge is designed to promote innovation and engagement in computer science.
The Congressional App Challenge is the most prestigious prize in student computer science, encouraging them to learn to code and inspiring them to pursue careers in computer science. It’s open to all middle and high school students in a Congressional district. Each challenge is district specific.
US Representatives publicly recognize their winning teams, and each winning app may be put on display in the US Capitol Building for one year.
The Congressional Internet Caucus initiates the annual CAC. The Non-profit Internet Education Foundation has been appointed to provide the CAC with supplemental staffing and support.