Rep. Mike Levin Announces 2024 Congressional App Challenge Winner
Oceanside, CA – Today, Rep. Mike Levin (CA-49) announced Justin Tam as the winner of the 2024 Congressional App Challenge for California’s 49th Congressional District. The local high school student created FindFoodPantries, an app which creates a central directory for locating nearby food banks to help address food insecurity. Justin was inspired to create the app after volunteering and coming face to face with the issue in his community.
“Building an app from scratch is no small feat. It’s incredible to see all the time and effort our students put in to create programs that help their communities,” said Rep. Levin. “Congratulations to Justin for winning this year’s challenge. This issue of food insecurity is a growing problem in California, and his app helps us take one step closer to ensuring everyone has the food and nutrition they need.”
The second-place winner is Matthew Martono whose app, Plum: Grocery Price Tracker, allows users to compare grocery prices across nearby stores.
The third-place winner is Gary Wang, whose app, Foreign Language Pro, helps users practice a foreign language by watching their favorite shows and engaging videos while providing helpful vocabulary and knowledge tests.
The Congressional App Challenge was launched in 2015 as an effort to promote Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education, and to encourage students to learn coding and computer science skills. Students in participating congressional districts compete against their peers by creating original software applications. Winning apps are featured on the U.S. House of Representatives’ website, the Congressional App Challenge’s website, and are also displayed in an exhibit in the U.S. Capitol Building.
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