Explore Irving! wins Rep. Marc Veasey’s 2025 Congressional App Challenge in Texas’s 33rd District
Rep. Marc Veasey has named Anila Krishnan of School of Science and Engineering as the winner of the 2025 Congressional App Challenge in Texas’s 33rd District. Their app Explore Irving! is designed for the Irving Archives and Museum Website.
When asked what inspired the creation of Explore Irving!, Anila Krishnan said, “Over the summer, I began volunteering at the Irving Archives and Museum. I volunteered in the Sparks!Lab, which is an area of the museum designed for kids. The Sparks!Lab offers a variety of creative activities, such as designing cars and building stadiums. I noticed how much fun these activities were for the kids, and how they encouraged innovation and creativity in an engaging way. Beyond the Sparks!Lab, the museum has many informative exhibits featuring the history and development of the city of Irving. I wanted to bring these exhibits into the Sparks!Lab in the same hands-on and interactive way. I brainstormed with the Museum Guest Experience Coordinator about a project that would help spread knowledge about Irving while creating a fun and memorable experience at the museum. We came up with the idea for an app that informs children about both the history and current landmarks here in Irving.”
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.