GeoBlend wins Rep. Aaron Bean’s 2023 Congressional App Challenge in Florida’s Fourth District
Rep. Bean has named Victor Zhang, Aryan Thakur, Prithish Shan and Alan Alwakeel of Stanton College Preparatory School as the winners of the 2023 Congressional App Challenge in Florida’s Fourth District.
When asked what inspired the creation of GeoBlend, the students said, “The creation of this app was inspired by an experience one of our group members had when he first moved to Jacksonville.
After moving to Jacksonville in 2019, I wondered about the story behind the city’s development. Coming from a historic part of North Carolina, where everyone was obsessed with the town’s history, I was surprised that nobody I asked at Jacksonville knew of the culture. As he soon found out, not many people know or care enough about the history of the city that they live in.
Even in a city of over a million people like Jacksonville, most people, including those who have lived here for decades, know about the beautiful natural and historical sites in and around the city.
After talking to people who have been residents of Jacksonville, we concluded that one good way to expose people to lesser-known regional history and local features of nature was by creating an app that acted as a virtual-tour guide.
Even in the global age of connectivity that we live in today, people still seem to be more detached from their communities than ever before.
GeoBlend aims to not only inform people about the rich features of their local environment, but also to bring people closer together by enabling them to share a common cultural identity within their region.”
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.