StickerBop wins Rep. Mary Miller’s 2025 Congressional App Challenge in Illinois’ 15th District
Rep. Mary Miller has named Rick Wang, Darby Stever, Jacob Schrage, and Maria Caminiti of Highland High School as the winners of the 2025 Congressional App Challenge in Illinois’s 15th District. Their app StickerBop transforms your photos into digital stickers in seconds, allowing users to create personalized collages that capture their memories in a fun, creative way.
When asked what inspired the creation of StickerBop, the students said, “Senior year at Highland has been flying by with homecoming dances, football games, and late-night study sessions with friends. I wanted a way to capture all these memories that felt as creative and spontaneous as the moments themselves. I noticed how sticker art was everywhere in pop culture, from Olivia Rodrigo’s album covers to travel suitcases covered in destination stickers, but there wasn’t an easy way to make personalized sticker collages from your own photos. When my friend tried creating one in Photoshop, it took him over 10 minutes just to extract a single photo and add borders. Plus, most students don’t even have access to professional software. That’s when the idea clicked: what if there was an app that could turn our memories into stickers instantly?
“StickerBop automatically scans uploaded photos, intelligently removes backgrounds, and adds authentic sticker borders so that users can start building a sticker collage immediately.
“I wanted to build something that helps my generation preserve memories in a way that’s uniquely ours: playful, beautiful, and full of personality. StickerBop is about giving everyone the power to turn their photos into art that tells their story.”
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.