Blair and Wheaton sophomores win the Congressional App Challenge

Blair sophomore Julian Givens and Wheaton sophomore Ayden Yeung created “Better Buildings,” an app that won the Congressional App Challenge for Maryland’s eighth district. Givens and Yeung’s app stood out among the competition for its practical solution to a widespread issue: improving communication between students and administrators about issues involving school infrastructure. 

What is the Congressional App Challenge? 

The Congressional App Challenge is a competition that encourages middle and high school students to design original apps and foster an interest in computer science. Hosted by the U.S. House of Representatives, the competition evaluates submissions based on originality, impact, and technical complexity. Participants submit a functional platform along with a three-minute video explaining their project to their congressional district, where a winner is selected by the respective congressman - in the eighth district’s case, Jamie Raskin. Givens and Yeung’s thoughtful approach to solving a common issue in schools made their app stand out, earning them first place. 

“Better Buildings” 

“Better Buildings” allows students to report infrastructure issues–like leaky faucets or broken doors–directly to school administrators. “The app bridges the gap between students and administrators,” Givens explained. “It provides a faster way for students to communicate problems and administrators to address them.” 

The inspiration for the app came from the duo’s time at Silver Spring International Middle School. “While we were there, there were a lot of issues with the overall infrastructure of the school–whether that be at the bathrooms or ceiling panels falling down,” Yeung said. After talking with former Board of Education member Lynne Harris and sharing their concerns with her, the two decided to create an app that could make it easier for students to report such problems. 

Developing the app 

Givens and Yeung built the app over the past summer, starting with a basic framework from a Python textbook and optimizing it to meet their needs. “The hard part of coding the app was the back-end, and that was all in Python,” Givens explained. “It was nice we had prior experience with the language to actually program [the app].” and Yeung used multiple programming languages like HTML, CSS, and Javascript to create the multifunctional platform over a few months. 

“Better Buildings” has many features, the main one being to let students submit detailed reports with issue descriptions and locations. Administrators can track progress, resolve issues, and suspend accounts if malicious reports are submitted. Meanwhile, students can upvote reports, helping administrators prioritize the most urgent issues. “The upvote feature lets important issues get the attention they deserve,” Yeung said. 

Looking ahead 

Since they won the challenge, Givens and Yeung have the opportunity to present “Better Buildings” in the U.S. Capitol in April. There, they will showcase their app to lawmakers and industry leaders, emphasizing the impact of student-led creativity and innovation.

They also have plans to expand the app’s features. “We have a list of things we want to implement, like allowing students to upload photos of the issues,” Yeung said. They hope to pilot the app at Wheaton High School before introducing it to other schools in Montgomery County. 

Reflecting on the experience, Givens and Yeung felt happy with the outcome of both the app and the competition. “We’re happy that we put in the work and tried to win this competition because it all worked out in the end,” Givens said with a smile.