As Oregon students head back to school, U.S. Rep. Greg Walden (R-Hood River) announced an opportunity for students to design an app as part of a nationwide competition.
The 2016 Congressional App Challenge is a chance for tech-savvy students across central, southern, and eastern Oregon to put their creativity to the test and design their own original smartphone or desktop apps. The winner’s app will be displayed in the U.S. Capitol among the best student apps in the country. A panel of local experts from Oregon, including app developers and computer science professors, will judge each student’s work and select the winner and runners-up.
“The Congressional App Challenge is a fantastic opportunity for students to showcase their creativity in science, technology, and math,” Walden said. “App development and coding are 21st century skills, and I believe somewhere in Oregon there could be a student with an idea that could become the next Facebook or Uber. One talented winner will have the chance to be recognized on the national stage. I look forward to seeing this year’s entries and wish all Oregon’s budding coders the best of luck.”
In addition to having their apps featured in the U.S. Capitol, $50,000 in Amazon Web Services credits will be divided among the student winners from around the country to be used for cloud computing services and other resources to advance their coding education.
To enter the challenge, students must submit a video demonstration explaining their app and what they learned, as well as the app’s source code. The deadline for entries is November 2, 2016. For additional details and steps to enter, please visit Walden’s website.
