Cyber Slug: Know your PC Wins Rep. Diaz-Balart’s (FL-25) 2019 Congressional App Challenge
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart has named two Doral students as the winner of the Congressional App Challenge in Florida\’s 25th district. Mario Casamassima and Maurizio Casamassima submitted Cyber Slug: Know your PC, an app that helps people to learn about computers and their components through a fun interactive experience.
When asked why they were passionate about creating an app that emphasizes school safety the students replied, “We believe that our main inspiration for this idea is our passion for learning about computers, because they are the future. Computer science is fun, and we believe that our app represents this idea and it would inspire other people as well.” 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.