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Meng Announces Winners of Congressional App Contest

March 15, 2018

Winners consist of Queens high school students who will showcase their winning app on Capitol Hill next month

QUEENS, NY – U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-Queens) announced today that Jashua Veerasammy and Arun Budhoo, juniors at Thomas Edison High School in Jamaica, Queens, have been selected as the winners of the Congresswoman's Congressional app contest.
The competition, which consisted of entries from students at Queens middle schools and high schools, is part of the "Congressional App Challenge," a nationwide contest held by the House of Representatives in which students compete by creating and exhibiting an app for mobile, tablet or computer devices.
Veerasammy and Budhoo – along with winners from app contests in Congressional districts throughout the United States – will now be invited to showcase their apps to Members of Congress and members of the tech community at #HouseOfCode, a special reception scheduled to take place on Capitol Hill in April. Their app is also eligible to be displayed for one year in the U.S. Capitol and on the House of Representatives' official website, www.house.gov. In addition, they and all winners will be awarded $250 in Amazon web credits and a $100 gift card from Southwest Airlines.
Veerasammy and Budhoo, who are both 16 years of age, won for their app entitled "VIVID" which seeks to help people become motivated and confident in fitness and health. They believe that with obesity rates at the highest in the United States, people need motivation to exercise, and their app motivates users to go to the gym. A video that they created about their app – which was required under the rules of the contest – can be viewed here.
"I am proud to congratulate Jashua and Arun for winning my App Challenge," said Meng. "I am extremely impressed at how these teens used their creativity and scientific minds to create and develop this impressive piece of work. Their efforts illustrate the outstanding tech skills that exist among Queens students and I salute their passion for technology and writing code. I look forward to welcoming them to Washington next month, and I applaud the talents of all the students who entered my competition."
"We are deeply honored to have been chosen as the winners of Congresswoman Meng's competition," said Veerasammy and Budhoo. "We first entered the contest for fun, then got serious about creating an app that could make a difference in people's lives. We brainstormed ideas for many hours, put our creativity to the test, and came-up with an app to help people be fit and healthy. We're thankful that our hard work paid off and we are grateful to have had the inspiration of our shop teacher Kathleen Kuntz, and others from a competing team at our school. We're extremely excited to showcase our work on Capitol Hill next month and we thank Congresswoman Meng for taking part in the Congressional App Challenge."
A total of 15 students from schools throughout Queens entered Meng's contest. In addition to motivating people to go to the gym, apps included games, assisting those with autism and helping women locate shelters. All of the students who entered will receive a certificate of Congressional recognition.
Nationally, more than 4,100 students participated in the App Challenge and over 1,270 student-created apps were submitted. 190 Members of Congress from 42 states held contests in their districts.
The winners of Meng's competition were selected by a panel of local judges who work within the academic, software and entrepreneurial fields. They included:
- Daniel Leavitt – Adjunct lecturer at Queens College, and Vice President of eDiscovery, Engineering, and Architecture at Deutsche Bank
- Ted Brown – Computer Science Professor and Director of Queens College's Tech Incubator
- Jukay Hsu – Founder and C.E.O. of Coalition for Queens
All entries were received by last November's deadline. Participants were permitted to compete individually or in teams of up to four students. All apps were required to be original in concept, design and execution.