Bay Area Student Coders Share their Winning Apps with Lawmakers in D.C.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (KGO) -- Some of the Bay Area's top young coders were in Washington D.C. May 9th, demonstrating their apps for social good to lawmakers. They took part in House of Code on Capitol Hill.

The one-day science fair celebrates the winners of the 2018 Congressional App Challenge from across the country. Congress launched the competition 4 years ago in an effort to encourage American middle and high school students to pursue computer science.

Each Congressional district holds its own contest and selects a winner.

In 2018, 5,200 students submitted over 1,700 original apps. More than 200 winning teams attended House of Code. They got to hear keynotes from lawmakers, attend a STEM fair and tour the Capitol. But the highlight was sharing their apps with 100 Congressional representatives.

Gianna Yan of Piedmont Middle School is the winner in Rep. Barbara Lee's CA-13th district. Her winning app is called @bay. Yan said, "Basically what it does is that it streamlines the voting process for millennials and to young communities. And my app is also aimed towards increasing civic engagement among them."

4 other Bay Area winners attended House of Code: Joshua Zhu of Rep. Nancy Pelosi's district for a reminder app, KnowY; Lauren Wong of Representative Jackie Speier's district for a charity connection app, DoNation; Isabella Hochschiild, Aarushi Choundhary and Sriya Aluru of Rep. Eric Swalwell's district for a startup investment app, INCUB8; and Aryan Kaul and Rishabh Mudradi of Rep. Ro Khanna's district for a refugee assistance app, Curae.

The winners each receive $250 in Amazon Web Services and their apps could be displayed in the U.S. Capitol Building for one year. This year's contest window is from June to October.