Girl-Vest wins Rep. Moore 2023 Congressional App Challenge in Massachusetts’ Seventh District
Rep. Presley has named Kabira Azeez of Blue Hills Regional Technical School, Krisha Dani of Nashua South High School, Valerie Gonzalez-Soto of Blue Hills Regional Technical School, and Leah Zuniga of Revere High School as the winners of the 2023 Congressional App Challenge in Massachusetts’ Seventh District.
When asked what inspired the creation of Girl-Vest, the students said, “We were inspired to create this app after reading a study conducted by Fidelity which discovered that a mere 33% of women had confidence when it comes to making investment decisions. This study highlighted a problem in the male-dominated financial and investing field where women aren’t comfortable participating in those spaces. We wanted to help fix that and bridge the gap.”
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.