The lines of code that middle and high school students in the West San Gabriel Valley have been writing all year will translate into awards, applause, and a possible trip to Washington, D.C. on Saturday morning at Caltech.
Rep. Judy Chu will host her seventh Annual Congressional App Challenge Awards Ceremony at the Hameetman Auditorium in Caltech’s Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, where she will announce the Top 10 student coders from California’s 28th Congressional District. The first-place winner earns eligibility to have their app displayed in the U.S. Capitol Building and an invitation to the House of Code celebration in Washington, D.C. this April, according to a press release from Chu’s office.
Over 50 student-created apps will be on display at the ceremony, representing young programmers from across the District, which includes Pasadena, Altadena, Arcadia, Alhambra, Monterey Park, San Gabriel, San Marino, and surrounding communities.
The Congressional App Challenge is an annual nationwide competition hosted by Members of Congress that encourages students to learn coding and pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math fields. Chu, who represents the 28th Congressional District, has hosted the competition annually since 2019.
In December 2024, announcing winners of her sixth annual competition, Chu said in a statement that she was proud of the “talented young coders who worked collaboratively to fix a host of problems facing the world.”
The top 10 winners receive goody bags donated by science-focused organizations in the District. The first-place winner’s app may also be featured on the House.gov website.
Last year, Rep. Chu’s competition received a record 67 app submissions. The 2024 District winner, Kelly Zhang of Polytechnic School, created an app called Vision of Grove that uses satellite imagery to analyze mangrove forest loss and assess community vulnerability to natural disasters, according to Chu’s office.
Judges for Chu’s previous competitions have included experts from Caltech, JPL, and Pasadena-based Motiv Space Systems.
The ceremony begins at 10:45 a.m., with doors opening at 10:15 a.m. The event is open to students, families, teachers, and the press.
Hameetman Auditorium, Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, 1216 E. California Blvd., Pasadena. For more contact Claire Berry at claire.berry@mail.house.gov.
The competition was established by Congress in 2013 through House Resolution 77, which passed with 411 votes to three. Since then, the program has engaged more than 83,000 students across all 50 states, according to the Congressional App Challenge
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