OceanSweep wins Rep. Gil Cisneros’ 2025 Congressional App Challenge in California’s 31st District

When asked what inspired the creation of OceanSweep, the students said, “On my 16th birthday, my family and I went on a trip to Hawaii, and we visited a place called Turtle Cove, where we encountered dozens of majestic sea turtles who were peacefully resting with their families. When I returned to California, my partner and I attended the annual Beach Cleanup Key Club hosts, and we learned how polluted and dirty our local beaches had become. After seeing how much plastic, trash, and toxic pollution there was on our shores, I thought of the sea turtles, and it motivated me to make a change. 

“As we began brainstorming ideas for our app, I shared how it was our responsibility to spread awareness concerning the destruction that people are wreaking on marine life, our ocean, and our beautiful planet. My passion for protecting marine life inspired my partner, and we decided to spend our summer together creating OceanSweep. We researched, drew, coded, and designed our app to have the greatest impact possible. We did not know where or how to start, but we were ready to create an app that is able to educate, inspire, and empower our communities to take care of our oceans and our planet. We chose to build an interactive map that displayed local beaches and Clean-up programs to allow individuals to actively help clean up trash. We also incorporated cute, aesthetic drawings to make sure people of any age could understand the different types of trash they may encounter while cleaning up our environment. Last, but not least, we added educational elements to teach our communities how they should categorize trash for proper recycling habits.”