CivicLink wins Rep. Mark Messmer’s 2025 Congressional App Challenge in Indiana’s Eighth District
Rep. Mark Messmer has named Sarah Li, Kodi Lau, Madeleine Long, and Matthew Fei of Boonville High School and Signature School as the winners of the 2025 Congressional App Challenge in Indiana’s Eighth District. Their app CivicLink is a web-based platform that helps city engineers log and share information about new buildings in their area.
When asked what inspired the creation of CivicLink, the students said, “Our team was inspired to create Civic Link after noticing how quickly our city has been changing due to recent technological and industrial growth. With new facilities, businesses, and infrastructure projects appearing across the area, it’s often difficult for residents to stay informed about what’s being built and why. We wanted to design a simple, transparent system where both engineers and the public could easily share and view this information. Our goal was to use technology to improve civic communication, bridge the gap between government and community, and help people better understand the progress happening around them.”
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.