West High App wins Rep. Mark Pocan’s 2025 Congressional App Challenge in Wisconsin’s Second District
Rep. Mark Pocan has named August Andersen and Aiden Lee of West High School as the winners of the 2025 Congressional App Challenge in Wisconsin’s Second District. Their app West High App is built to be the one simple place where students can find everything they need for school.
When asked what inspired the creation of West High App, the students said, “We kept noticing that a lot of educational opportunity at our school was getting lost because information didn’t reach the right students at the right time. People missed PSAT sign-ups and club meetings. Tutoring forms were buried in old emails, leading to students being unable to find a tutor. Club info was spread across old Google Classrooms, shared drives, and half-updated pages. New Freshmen didn’t know where to start, and even upperclassmen felt overwhelmed. It didn’t feel fair that your opportunities depended on whether you happened to see a specific email or knew the right person.
“So we decided to fix it ourselves. Over the summer, we mapped all the places information existed and partnered with students, teachers, coaches, and club leaders to get all the information in one place. Then we coded the West High App app to pile the essentials into one place: announcements, events, clubs, sports, and other essential resources.
“After we built the first version, we pitched it to our principal and got support right away. That gave us confidence to keep going, polish the design, and add features like favorites and news feeds. Our inspiration is pretty simple: when information is easy to find, more students participate, stress goes down, and our school community gets stronger. We wanted to make that happen for everyone at West High.”
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.