Sandburg Student Wins Prestigious Congressional App Challenge

ORLAND PARK, IL -- A Carl Sandburg High School student has won the Illinois 3rd District 2018 Congressional App Challenge. Dan Hickey’s app, Converge, puts a modern twist on the Atari breakout video game. The Congressional App Challenge is considered the most prestigious prize in student computer science.

“The app submissions we received were all impressive demonstrations of the students’ creativity and abilities to code, which is becoming a vital skill set in today’s economy,” said Congressman Dan Lipinski, who co-chairs the House STEM Education Caucus. “As an engineer I did my fair share of coding, but Dan’s app stood out for the sophistication of the code and his advanced understanding of programming. I want to congratulate him, his teachers and all of the students who submitted apps to this year’s competition. They did tremendous work.”

A panel of experts from the district judged the apps. Hickey received high marks for using a non-block code language and developing a well-executed variation of a classic game.

A video featuring Hickey’s app will be played throughout the year on a screen in the U.S. Capitol, and he will receive credits for free web hosting services and an invitation to a special coding-related event next year in Washington, D.C.

The Congressional App Challengebegan in 2015 as a way to inspire students from every corner of the country to explore STEM, coding, and computer science through hands-on practice. During the last four months, more than 5,000 students coded original apps as part of the district-wide competitions hosted by their respective member of Congress.