TRY-N-GO! wins Rep. Buddy Carter’s 2023 Congressional App Challenge in Georgia’s First District
Rep. Carter has named Bowen Liu and Zheyong Liu of South Effingham High School as the winners of the 2023 Congressional App Challenge in Georgia’s First District.
When asked what inspired the creation of TRY-N-GO!, the students said, “We were inspired by games like chess, checkers, and connect-4 that tested the player’s cognitive and pattern recognition skills while also encouraging great strategy.
As such, TRY-N-GO! is a tactical game that was designed to engage young adolescents and improve cognitive functions (i.e. geometric thinking, pattern recognition, spatial reasoning, and critical thinking skills). The transparent, turn-based nature of the board game drastically reduces the influence of luck; instead, players are reliant upon both logical and abstract thinking. They must think and plan strategically when placing game pieces to score points while simultaneously blocking their opponent from scoring. Moreover, this game serves as a wonderful combination of the best of different board games: the strategy of chess and the simplicity of games like checkers and connect-4. Overall, we want this digital board game to act as both a brain-enriching game and an exciting recreational activity.”
This year’s Challenge saw an unprecedented level of participation, with 374 Members of the House of Representatives hosting competitions, surpassing the previous record of 340. A remarkable 11,334 students from across the United States competed in this year’s Challenge, marking an impressive increase of nearly 1,000 participants compared to the previous record set in 2019. The enthusiasm and creativity these students display is a testament to the growing interest in technology and signal a bright future for American innovation. The surge of ingenuity continued with a whopping 3,645 original applications flooding in, nearly a thousand more than the previous year’s high. This remarkable growth showcases the exceptional talent and innovation within our nation’s youth.
The Congressional App Challenge is an official 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. This resounding show of bipartisan support emphasizes the critical importance of STEM education in today’s rapidly evolving world. Each participating Member of Congress selects a winning app from their district, and each winning team is invited to showcase their winning app to Congress during our annual #HouseOfCode festival. The program is a public-private partnership made possible through funding from Omidyar Network, AWS, Rise, theCoderSchool, Apple, and others.
The 2024 Congressional App Challenge will launch in May of 2024, and eligible students can pre-register for the competition now.