Fulltray wins Rep. Nick LaLota’s 2025 Congressional App Challenge in New York’s First District
Rep. Nick LaLota has named Angelina Zhang and Jason Lu of The Stony Brook School and Phillips Academy Andover as the winners of the 2025 Congressional App Challenge in New York’s First District. Their app Fulltray is designed to reduce food waste by helping restaurants, grocery stores, and individuals donate surplus food to nearby food pantries.
When asked what inspired the creation of Fulltray, the students said, “Through our previous experience running local food drives and partnering with organizations in our community, we noticed that the need for non-perishable and donated food was always high. Especially in recent years, food pantries have been stretched thin. In the beginning stages of building the app, we visited many local restaurants, bakeries, and food businesses. Many restaurants had excess food that they didn’t want to throw away, yet they were having trouble connecting with those who could take it. Besides, both food waste and food insecurity are common problems that Long Island, as well as the rest of America, faces.”
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.