PillPall wins Rep. Nicole Malliotakis’ 2025 Congressional App Challenge in New York’s 11th District
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis has named Rhesa Thomas of Port Richmond High School as the winner of the 2025 Congressional App Challenge in New York’s 11th District. Their app PillPall is a gamified version of a pill-timer, where users can input their medications and then gain experience points and level up when they complete their medication tasks.
When asked what inspired the creation of PillPall, Rhesa Thomas said, “I was inspired to create this app through my common experience of forgetting to take my own Vitamin D supplements. I knew that my symptoms, such as fatigue and soreness, were a result of my deficiency. I also knew that there could be even more detrimental consequences to my health if I didn’t take them, but I just kept forgetting. Furthermore, my family members, including my mother, had their own medications that they forget to take at times, and I see the side effects firsthand. I figured that if there was a way to gamify the process of taking medicine, it would make people, especially teens like myself, much more likely to take their medicine/supplements and improve their overall health.”
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.