Jar Of Feelings wins Rep. Gwen Moore’s 2025 Congressional App Challenge in Wisconsin’s Fourth District
Rep. Gwen Moore has named Joriel Peterson of Wauwatosa West High School as the winner of the 2025 Congressional App Challenge in Wisconsin’s Fourth District. Their app Jar Of Feelings is a user-friendly journaling application designed to make daily reflection both accessible and rewarding.
When asked what inspired the creation of Jar Of Feelings, Joriel Peterson said, “As someone who journals regularly, I noticed a major problem with existing journaling apps: they actually make journaling more stressful instead of less. This realization inspired me to create Jar Of Feelings.
“In 2025, stress and anxiety among students are at an all-time high. Studies show that journaling is one of the most effective ways to manage stress and improve mental health. But when I tried popular journaling apps, I found that most of them worked against this goal. They include features like streak counters that make you feel guilty if you miss a day, subscription paywalls that lock helpful features behind a payment, and complicated or excessive prompts that feel more like homework than self-reflection. These design choices turned journaling into just another thing on my to-do list—adding stress instead of relieving it.
“I created Jar Of Feelings to do the opposite. The app focuses on making journaling feel supportive and pressure-free rather than like an obligation. By removing the stressful elements common in other apps, Jar Of Feelings provides a space where students and young people can actually benefit from journaling without the added pressure. My goal was to make mental wellness accessible to the people who need it most.”
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.