Sophomore Competition Winners Attend Awards Reception in D.C.

Sophomores Ariana Arrojado and Barbara Clay attended an awards reception in Washington, DC as winners of the 2016 Congressional App Challenge. The students won for their app Take Me to…Travel Agency. The app helps users learn or practice geography by selecting the correct destination requested by the traveler character in the app.

The national competition encourages high school students to design and code their own applications for the phone, tablet or computer, and highlights the importance of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields in education. More than 2,100 students in 33 states and 123 Congressional districts submitted 650 original apps.

A winner was chosen for each Congressional district. Arianna and Barbara won in district PA-06, represented by Rep. Ryan Costello.

The girls developed their ideas while participating in Villa Maria’s Tech Club. They brainstormed ways to help students learn about geography, wrote the code, and made a video demonstrating the finished app.

Winners of the Congressional App Competition, including Arrojado and Clay, attended #HouseOfCode, a science fair style demo day, where winners displayed their work to Members of Congress and the tech community. The event was held Tuesday, April 4, 2017, in the Rayburn Foyer of the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC.