Pollinator Party wins Rep. Pete Sessions’s 2023 Congressional App Challenge in Texas’s 17th District
Rep. Sessions has named Stephanie Starks, a 10th grader at Midway High School, as the winner of the 2023 Congressional App Challenge in Texas’s 17th District.
When asked what inspired the creation of Pollinator Party, the student said, “I was inspired to create this app because of a butterfly I saw hurt on the ground one day. It made me think about how pollinators can be impacted by the things humans do. I asked my AP Environmental Science teacher about what I might be able to do to help. My teacher told me that pollinators are a major influence on the growth of crops, and that they have declined by 50% since the mid 1970’s. This decline is largely because their food sources, like milkweed and nectar, have not been readily available. She also encouraged me to do my own research to aid the development of my app. I found a government website that said 90% of pollinators are responsible for producing 93% of the food readily available. This research helped me appreciate how the food on my plate comes from pollinators and how important it is to make sure they’re fed too.”
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.