SAN DIEGO, CA — Today, Rep. Scott Peters (CA-50) announced the winners of the 2024 Congressional App Challenge for middle and high school students in California’s 50th Congressional District. The competition aims to engage students’ creativity and encourage youth participation in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). A record 30 applications were submitted to this year’s competition. 

“We host the Annual Congressional App Challenge Competition in California’s 50th Congressional District to highlight the value of STEM education,” said Rep. Peters. “This competition is a chance for students to develop STEM skills, embrace their creativity, learn about the variety of STEM applications, and recognize the limitless possibilities of coding and computer design. So many students this year identified challenges facing their communities and designed solutions to address them. Congratulations to everyone who participated in this year’s competition and to our winners, Matthew, Luke, Kaelyn, Ryan, Cindy, Stephanie, and Mihir.”

The winners, Matthew DuBois and Luke Graham of the La Jolla Country Day School, submitted the app “CheckPoint Student.” Students consistently had free periods first in their schedule, requiring them to drop what they were doing in the library and walk across campus to write their names down on a clipboard. CheckPoint Student saves time by allowing students to securely sign in at the location of a tag in a classroom or library, without saving location data or invading students’ privacy. Instead, it utilizes Near Field Communication (NFC) scanning, similar to a contactless payment system like Apple or Google Pay. The CheckPoint Student app can also help account for students in emergencies, take attendance for clubs, and integrate with other services.

The 2nd place app, ePill, was submitted by Kaelyn Liu of Canyon Crest Academy. ePill is an easy-to-use pill tracking application that enhances patient care and prevents incorrect medication intake using deep learning. Patients upload a photo of the pills they intend to take, and the deep learning model ensures that the photo contains the correct medications in the correct dosage. It notifies the patient to ensure the medications and dosages are correct, logs medications successfully taken, and informs patients of their next medication time.

The 3rd place app, PaveScope, was submitted by Ryan Rezaei of Canyon Crest Academy. PaveScope is an advanced full-stack application that offers a comprehensive solution for road condition surveying and analysis. It utilizes drones equipped with GPS imaging capabilities in order to more efficiently survey roads without disrupting traffic and reduces overall costs.

The 4th place app, TosNOW, was submitted by Cindy Li and Stephanie Choi of Canyon Crest Academy. TosNOW is a Chrome Extension that automatically detects Terms of Service and Privacy Policies as a user browses the internet and integrates the latest generative AI to summarize convoluted legal documents for users to easily review how companies and organizations use and manage their data. After reviewing the Terms of Service, TosNOW extensions can help users feel more educated and in-control about the way companies and organizations use their data.

The 5th place app, FoodLink, was submitted by Mihir Bapat of Del Norte High School and is designed to tackle food wastage and hunger. Using the FoodLink app, donors can list what food they have in excess, while recipients like food banks can add what items they need to the platform. The app will then use AI to match donors and recipients based on their entries, assign a volunteer to drop the food off from one place to another, and generate the most efficient routes for drivers.

The winners were chosen by a panel of local expert judges who made their decisions based on the app’s purpose, concept, technicality, creativity, and design.  The winning app, CheckPoint Student, will be displayed on the Congressional App Challenge Website and on a digital display in the Capitol Building. The winners are also invited to the annual #HouseOfCode reception in Washington, D.C.

The winners of this year’s Congressional App Challenge for CA-50 are:

• First Place: CheckPoint Student, by Matthew Dubois and Luke Graham, La Jolla Country Day School

• Second Place: ePill, by Kaelyn Liu, Canyon Crest Academy

• Third Place: PaveScope, by Ryan Rezaei, Canyon Crest Academy

• Fourth Place: TosNOW, by Cindy Li and Stephanie Choi, Canyon Crest Academy

• Fifth Place: FoodLink, by Mihir Bapat, Del Norte High School

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