Washington - Today, Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-04) announced Ziqi Zheng from Maria Carillo High School in Sonoma County as the winner of the 2024 Congressional App Challenge. Ziqi's app, "SOS-Connect," helps connect people in disaster areas with community resources.

"STEM education is critical to prepare our nation's middle- and high-schoolers for the future workforce. That's why I look forward to hosting the Congressional App Challenge each year. It's a great opportunity to engage our community's students in creative, innovative coding projects," said Thompson.

"Congratulations to Ziqi on her outstanding app to help disaster victims access resources and community support, and congratulations to Vera Liu from Davis Senior High School for winning second place, and Siddharth and Saanvi Kohli from Sonoma Academy for winning third place! I'm blown away by this year's submissions. I encourage each and every one of our participants to continue to work hard to develop their coding skills and to spread the word so we can expand our competition even more in 2025."

Thompson received 10 submissions to this year's challenge. The apps were evaluated by a panel of judges from the Fourth District: Laura Swart from Keysight Technologies, Michael Silva from Solano Community College, and Emery Stafford from Napa Valley College.

The final standings were:

1^st Place: Ziqi Zheng from Sonoma County for "SOS-Connect," an app designed to connect people in disaster areas with community resources.

2^nd Place: Vera Liu from Yolo County for "Where the Wild Things R," an app designed to provide an interactive map and guide to help children learn more about the many species at the Sacramento Zoo.

3^rd Place: Siddharth and Saanvi Kohli from Sonoma County for "Green Threads," an app designed to help young people sustainably buy and trade clothing.

BACKGROUND

Each year, the U.S. House of Representatives hosts the Congressional App Challenge to encourage middle school and high school student participation in computer science. The App Challenge is an opportunity for students to compete against peers within their congressional district to design and code an original application. The student or students behind each winning application are invited to Washington, D.C. to present their application to members of Congress and leaders in the technology sector. Each winning app is also displayed in the U.S. Capitol and shown on House.gov.