AK Bush Weather wins Rep. Nicholas Begich’s 2025 Congressional App Challenge in Alaska’s At-Large District
Rep. Nicholas Begich has named Dalton Donley of Eagle River High School as the winner of the 2025 Congressional App Challenge in Alaska’s At-Large District. Their app AK Bush Weather runs a risk assessment of the weather surrounding an airport and provides pilots with a rating based on weather and flight hours to give them a better measurement of whether or not they should fly today or book a trip later in the week/month.
When asked what inspired the creation of AK Bush Weather, Dalton Donley said, “I was inspired to create this app because of a family friend of mine dying in a plane crash. It was really heartbreaking because bush piloting, in a sense, carries a lot of responsibility, as usually there is only one pilot, and without the consciousness of that one pilot, things can go wrong really quickly and lead to death. My goal with this app was that if it was developed further, it could serve as a better way to track weather conditions and provide pilots with a safer way to evaluate if it is safe to fly or not, and ease the load on the already stressed pilot’s mind a little bit.”
The 2025 Congressional App Challenge marked another record-setting year for the program. A total of 394 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives hosted App Challenges in their congressional districts, the highest level of participation in the program’s history. More than 13,800 students from across the country participated, submitting over 4,600 original apps focused on real-world challenges ranging from health and accessibility to education, sustainability, and civic engagement.
The Congressional App Challenge is an official initiative of the U.S. House of Representatives that encourages middle school and high school students to learn to code, explore computer science, and build practical technology solutions for their communities. Each participating Member of Congress selects a winning app from their district, and winning teams are invited to showcase their projects to Members of Congress, staff, and industry leaders at the annual #HouseOfCode celebration on Capitol Hill.
The Challenge is proudly bipartisan and reflects a shared commitment to expanding access to STEM education and preparing the next generation of American innovators for the future workforce. The program is a public-private partnership made possible through funding from the Broadcom Foundation, AWS, Infosys Foundation USA, theCoderSchool, Apple, and others.
The 2026 Congressional App Challenge will launch in May, and eligible students can pre-register for the competition now.