Rep. Craig Announces Apple Valley Students as Winners of the Congressional App Challenge
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Representative Angie Craig announced Nathan Labiosa and Akansha Kamineni as the winners of the Congressional App Challenge in Minnesota's Second Congressional District. The Congressional App Challenge is an annual nationwide competition for middle school and high school students interested in computer science. Labiosa and Kamineni received the distinction after designing a mobile application called Rethink Recycling – which is designed to encourage young people to get excited about recycling and to help people understand which household items can be recycled by taking a short quiz.
Nathan and Akansha – who are Seniors at Eastview High School in Apple Valley – chose to design their application because of their firm belief in social responsibility and protecting the environment. The designers also thought their application was especially important at a time when millions of Americans are staying home due to the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis.
"I'm incredibly proud to announce Nathan Labiosa and Akansha Kamineni as the winners of the Congressional App Challenge in Minnesota's Second Congressional District," said Rep. Craig. "Now more than ever, it is crucial for Americans to act as responsible stewards of the world around us – and Nathan and Akansha's innovative and commonsense app could help us all to do exactly that. I'm incredibly impressed by this accomplishment and optimistic about the future of our state with young folks like Nathan and Akansha leading the way."
The Congressional App Challenge is a nationwide effort by Members of Congress to encourage middle school and high school students to learn code and pursue careers in computer science. Each member of Congress is encouraged to nominate one submission to be put on display in the U.S. Capitol Building for one year. In the first four years of the challenge, the CAC has inspired more than 14,000 students in 48 states to get involved in application design by participating in the annual competition.