Happybytes Wins Rep. Higgin’s (LA-03) 2019 Congressional App Challenge

Rep. Clay Higgin’s has named four Broussard students as the winner of the Congressional App Challenge in Louisiana’s 3rd district. David Thibodaux STEM Magnet Academy’s Brendan Duhon, Weston Simon, Jaydon Huval and Cailey Bianchini submitted Happybytes, an app that is designed to provide persons with anti-suicide and depression resources. 

When asked why they were passionate about creating a mental health assistance app the students replied, “Many people, including some members of our team, have experienced depression or know someone close that deals with depression daily. Suicide is an epidemic which is a topic filled with only pain and regret. We want to help these people through these dark times and possibly even save some lives along the way.” They hope to encourage other students to better their communities by using their computer science skills.  

Over 10,000 students registered for the 2019 Congressional App Challenge. These students created and submitted 2,177 functioning apps, marking the end of the most successful Congressional App Challenge to date. All told, 304 Members of Congress hosted Congressional App Challenges in their districts across 48 states, Puerto Rico, the Mariana Islands, and Washington, D.C.

The CAC is an initiative of the U.S. House of Representatives, where Members of Congress host contests in their districts for middle school and high school students, encouraging them to learn to code and inspiring them to pursue careers in computer science. The non-profit Internet Education Foundation provides the CAC with supplemental staffing and support. In the five years of the Congressional App Challenge, the program has yielded 1134 App Challenges across 48 states. Thousands of functional apps have been created by over 25,000 students, and participant demographics surpass all industry diversity metrics.