HawaiiAlert.jp wins Rep. Ed Case’s 2025 Congressional App Challenge in Hawaii’s First District
Rep. Ed Case has named Aren Sawa of Mid-Pacific Institute as the winner of the 2025 Congressional App Challenge in Hawaii’s First District. Their app HawaiiAlert.jp is a bilingual disaster alert web app that automatically collects official emergency alerts from the U.S. National Weather Service and delivers accurate Japanese translations to users in real time.
When asked what inspired the creation of HawaiiAlert.jp, Aren Sawa said, “Growing up in Hawaii, I often saw Japanese tourists and students struggle to understand English-only disaster alerts. Earlier this year, when a tsunami warning was issued for Hawaii after a distant earthquake, many Japanese exchange students around me couldn’t fully understand what the alert said or how serious it was. Some of them rarely follow local news and are not very aware of Hawaii’s natural disaster alerts in general, which makes them even more vulnerable when emergencies occur.
“That experience made me realize how important it is to provide clear, official information in a language people truly understand. The 2023 Maui wildfires had already shown how essential communication is to public safety, and this tsunami warning reminded me that language accessibility is part of that.
“I wanted to use technology to close that gap by automatically delivering official alerts from the U.S. National Weather Service in Japanese. HawaiiAlert.jp was created to ensure that everyone in Hawaii—residents, visitors, and students alike—can receive accurate, trusted alerts instantly, regardless of language or awareness level.”
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.