Charger.Academy iOS App wins Rep. Salud Carbajal’s (CA-24) 2020 Congressional App Challenge

Rep. Salud Carbajal has named Chloe Harrah, Alex Hellman, and Nikhil Ograin from Dos Pueblos High School as the winners of the 2020 Congressional App Challenge in (CA-24).

When asked what inspired the creation of Charger.Academy iOS App, the students said, “Last Spring, school districts across the state of California were forced to shut down in-person instruction due to COVID-19. Schools like ours were unable to continue to support in-person peer tutoring, a service that hundreds of students rely upon every year to support their learning. Our team recognized the opportunity to help fellow students through a virtual alternative — a website named Charger.”

Over 6,500 students registered for the 2020 Congressional App Challenge. These students created and submitted 3,088 functioning apps, marking the end of an extremely successful Congressional App Challenge amid the COVID-19 pandemic. All told, 308 Members of Congress hosted Congressional App Challenges in their districts across 49 states, Puerto Rico, the Mariana Islands, and Washington, DC.

The CAC is an initiative of the U.S. House of Representatives, where Members of Congress host competitions 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 Internet Education Foundation provides the CAC with supplemental support. In the six years of the Congressional App Challenge, thousands of functional apps have been created by over 30,000 students, and participant demographics surpass all industry diversity metrics.