Southwest Airlines: the Official Airline of the 2018 Congressional App Challenge
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Southwest Airlines Co. is the official airline partner of the Congressional App Challenge and for #HouseOfCode 2019. This partnership provides App Challenge winners the opportunity to travel to Washington, D.C. for #HouseofCode in Spring 2019. The House of Representatives is transformed into the #HouseOfCode where the students showcase their apps in our nation’s capitol.
Southwest provides each 2018 Congressional App Challenge (CAC) winner with financial assistance in the form of travel from over 100 different cities to travel to Washington, D.C. Each district-level winner is invited to the nation’s capital for a summit called #HouseOfCode. The program includes a demo day reception, where students demonstrate their winning apps to Members of Congress and the tech community.
“We’re connecting with our Customers through a shared passion for supporting the domestic pipeline for tech skills,” said Linda Rutherford, Southwest Airlines Senior Vice President Chief Communications Officer. “It’s about encouraging young people to pursue science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields, and creating memorable experiences for the winners, along with their parents, teachers and mentors.”
Southwest and the CAC share the goal of inspiring students from every corner of the country to explore STEM and computer science (CS) through hands-on practice. Since the partnership with Southwest started in 2017, the annual Congressional App Challenge attracted more than 9,000 participants across 45 states and territories.
“Our partnership with Southwest Airlines supports the App Challenge’s goal of engaging students in the tech field”, said Rachel Décoste, National Director at the Congressional App Challenge.
About Southwest Airlines Co.
In its 48th year of service, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) continues to differentiate itself from other air carriers with exemplary Customer Service delivered by more than 58,000 Employees to a Customer base topping 120 million passengers annually, in recent years. Southwest became the nation’s largest domestic air carrier in 2003 and maintains that ranking based on the U.S. Department of Transportation’s most recent reporting of domestic originating passengers boarded. During peak travel seasons, Southwest operates more than 4,000 weekday departures among a network of 99 destinations in the United States and 10 additional countries. Southwest has announced its intention to serve Hawaii, subject to requisite governmental approvals.
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