Hurricane Helper wins Rep. Darren Soto’s 2025 Congressional App Challenge in Florida’s Ninth District
Rep. Darren Soto has named Nissi Sanju of Tohopekaliga High School as the winner of the 2025 Congressional App Challenge in Florida’s Ninth District. Their app Hurricane Helper is an iOS application that helps users, especially Florida residents, with hurricane preparation.
When asked what inspired the creation of Hurricane Helper, Nissi Sanju said, “During hurricane Irma, I remember how stressed my family was in preparing for that hurricane. So many different tabs were opened, showing us inconsistent information on how to prepare for a hurricane. Since Florida is constantly being bombarded by hurricanes year after year, the stress of preparing for hurricanes also comes year after year. To help others avoid the scenario of having multiple tabs open and being stressed about how to prepare, I decided to make an app where all the hurricane resources are readily available to users in one place. Statistics show that 1 in 4 Floridians don’t prepare for hurricane season, often due to a lack of resources, knowledge, or even overconfidence. However, my app helps to solve that by giving a central place for easy access to hurricane preparedness resources. My app won’t take away the hurricanes from Florida, but it can definitely help relieve some stress that comes with preparing for it.”
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.