Mood Picker Upper Wins Rep. Ann Kuster (NH-02) 2019 Congressional App Challenge
Rep. Ann Kuster has named a Nashua student as the winner of the Congressional App Challenge in New Hampshire’s 2nd district. Nashua High School South’s Neil Kachappilly submitted Mood Picker Upper, an app that helps with maintaining and improving one’s mental health.
When asked why the student was passionate about creating a mental health app they replied, “Two major recent events inspired me to create this inspirational app: Mental Wellness Week at school and my US History teacher. In light of recent events, such as shootings around the USA, mental health has come to the forefront of many discussions.” This student hopes 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.