Skeletal Sanctuary wins Rep. Jesus G. “Chuy” Garcia’s 2025 Congressional App Challenge in Illinois’s Fourth District.

When asked what inspired the creation of Skeletal Sanctuary, Grace Rhoten said, “I was inspired to create this app because of my experience running cross country and track in high school. Many of my teammates were almost constantly injured for many reasons – not eating enough, which led to a lack of calcium stored in the bones and stress fractures, overtraining causing breakdown of tendon tissue, and even not stretching because they didn’t understand why it was important. I wanted a way to educate teenagers at my school about how to better treat themselves, without relying on social media misinformation or social pressure to not do certain things. Many of these lessons were never taught to me, as health class is very brief and has to cover such a wide range of topics that it barely has time to delve into nutrition and exercise science. I was lucky enough to get to take an anatomy and physiology class, where I got much of the science background and inspiration to create this app. While this app was inspired by my experience as a runner, I think it benefits every single teenager by allowing them to learn the scientific WHY behind many of the things they are often told – “eat your vegetables” or “get some exercise”. With growing obesity rates in teens, this app is helpful because it teaches people to respect their bodies when they know how intricate it really is.”