MirrorMe wins Rep. Adam Smith’s 2025 Congressional App Challenge in Washington’s Ninth District
Rep. Adam Smith has named Gia Gupta of Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences as the winner of the 2025 Congressional App Challenge in Washington’s Ninth District. Their app MirrorMe is an interactive computer vision system that uses real-time body and hand tracking to help users mirror physical poses and gestures.
When asked what inspired the creation of MirrorMe, Gia Gupta said, “My inspiration came from my grandmother’s limited mobility and from volunteering with Dance for PD, a program that supports people with Parkinson’s through dance. I saw how movement built confidence, but also how hard it was for patients to track progress outside of class. During the pandemic, I conducted a movement-therapy workshop called Grace Under Pressure for middle schoolers struggling with anxiety, and I realized how healing guided motion could be. Later, I wanted to combine that empathy with technology. In my computer science class, I created a dexterity game. I also learned about AI pose detection and wondered what if a computer could become a virtual movement coach? That idea became MirrorMe, a bridge between dance and data, designed to restore motion and dignity through feedback and encouragement.”
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.