ConQuest wins Rep. Bradley Schneider’s 2025 Congressional App Challenge in Illinois’ 10th District

When asked what inspired the creation of ConQuest, the students said, “The inspiration for this app came from a mix of what we saw in school, what we learned at home, and what our families went through. All three of us are very involved in Scholastic Bowl, History Bowl, and our school’s Computer Science Club, so history and tech were already part of our lives. But when we took AP U.S. History, we noticed something. Even smart and motivated students were struggling. A lot of people knew the story, but not the dates. Others knew the dates, but not why the events mattered. It was clear that the problem was not ability, it was the format. History was being taught as something to memorize, not something to explore. We wanted to fix that.

“That is where the idea of a gamified history app started. We asked ourselves what it would look like if a student could learn history the same way they play a game. Not a 45-minute study session, but 10 minutes before bed. One quick Timeline Builder round to review events. One Battle Strategist run to answer questions under pressure. One Time Climb session to collect artifact fragments. Something small, fast, and repeatable that still teaches. We wanted an app that fits into people’s real schedules.

“Our families influenced it too. We all grew up with Indian grandparents who spent time teaching us about the Bhagavad Gita and Indian history. That taught us that history is not only school content. It is culture, identity, and what gets passed down. We wanted to bring that same feeling to American history. A student in the U.S. should be able to see these events as part of their story, not just something in a textbook.

“We also saw our parents study for the U.S. citizenship test. They had to fit studying around work, kids, and everything else. Watching that made us realize how important it is to have a tool that is simple, clear, and actually engaging. That is why we built this app to be modular, to save progress, and to work with resources like Quizlet.

“So the app came from one goal: make history something people want to come back to, not something they are forced to cram.”