myBus Wins Rep. Pallone’s (NJ-06) 2019 Congressional App Challenge

Rep. Frank Pallone has named two Piscataway students as the winner of the Congressional App Challenge in New Jersey\’s 6th district. Middlesex County Academy for Science Mathematics and Engineering Technologies Serena Zeng and Adhya Khare submitted myBus, an app that brings effective communication to the school bus system, and more specifically between students, parents, school officials, and bus drivers.

When asked why they were passionate about creating an app that focuses on more effective communication within the school bussing system the students replied, “Based on our own experience with the school bus system, we realized that efficient communication between the driver, students, parents, and the school administration was lacking. Being better informed about a busses difficulties, which may result in a delay, would be helpful for all parties at stake.” 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.