Pocket Cancer Resource Navigator (PCRN) wins Rep. Luz Rivas’ 2025 Congressional App Challenge in California’s 29th District
Rep. Luz Rivas has named Jerry Yang, Hannah Yang, and Sylesh Sundaresan of North Hollywood Senior High School, Harvard-Westlake School, and Oak Park High School as the winners of the 2025 Congressional App Challenge in California’s 29th District. Their app Pocket Cancer Resource Navigator (PCRN) serves as a central repository of resources for both cancer patients and American Cancer Society volunteers, with a friendly UI among its main priorities.
When asked what inspired the creation of Pocket Cancer Resource Navigator (PCRN), the students said, “In 2021, two of our team members, Hannah and Jerry, experienced their grandpa being diagnosed with lung cancer. And just like millions of other Americans who know and are affected by a cancer patient in their lives, Hannah and Jerry’s lives quickly became stressed. Not only did their grandpa spend months in a hospital bed for chemotherapy, but he also did not speak English, having immigrated from China to be closer to his children. Thus, during his treatment, my family constantly translated for him over and over again to also reassure him that nothing was amiss.
“This experience inspired them to join the American Cancer Society as Youth Ambassadors (ACS-YA), dedicating their free time to raising awareness about cancer and volunteering to support current families of cancer patients. Since then, they have been ACS-YA volunteers for 5 years. Sylesh, the third member of the team, has been a part of the ACS-YA program for 2 years now because he wanted to create a noticeable impact on his local community through the American Cancer Society. Leveraging this collective experience and gathering inputs from fellow ACS Youth Ambassadors and interviewing a few cancer patients, we designed the app to meet real community needs.
“As Youth Ambassadors, we meet once a month to share progress on local campaigns happening across the country and plan several in-person events throughout the year. For example, we plan and prepare for the Asian American Cancer and Diabetes Symposium (co-hosted with City of Hope and livestreamed in 5 different languages) and the various Relay for Life events happening in the fall (intended to celebrate cancer survivors and communities banding together against cancer). Our work, including the app design, is directly advised by Sophia Yeung, the ACS-YA Program Manager from City of Hope, who reviewed the App a few times with us and gives us feedback for improvements.”
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.