Recycle Expert wins Rep. Nancy Mace’s 2025 Congressional App Challenge in South Carolina’s First District
Rep. Nancy Mace has named Roger Shi and Jason Shi of Academic Magnet High School as the winners of the 2025 Congressional App Challenge in South Carolina’s First District. Their app Recycle Expert allows you to easily determine the proper disposal method for trash.
When asked what inspired the creation of Recycle Expert, the students said, “The main issue we found out was the rampant amounts of improper trash disposal. This can have drastic effects on the effectiveness of recycling, like if a container contains more than 25% of unrecyclable trash, the entire container may be thrown out. Additionally, many people want to pitch in and properly dispose of their trash instead of just throwing away everything in the trash/landfill bin. This app helps curb this problem by giving less of a burden to people who want to dispose of their trash properly. Instead of searching each item individually online, they can just take a picture of the trash, and Recycle Expert will tell them the proper disposal method. It might encourage people who would otherwise not be willing to take the burden of recycling to recycle since the process is made much easier by Recycle Expert. It would help protect the environment by reducing waste that could otherwise be recycled.”
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.