Buena Park students honored for Congressional App Challenge entries
Loading...
Summary
Beatty Middle School students submitted nine apps to this year’s Congressional App Challenge; district and a representative’s office presented certificates and praised student work, noting the national program grows from a 2013 House resolution.
The Buena Park School District recognized Beatty Middle School students on Jan. 8 for submitting nine apps to the Congressional App Challenge, the official student STEM competition of the U.S. House of Representatives.
"The congressional app challenge is the official student stem competition of the U.S. House of Representatives," Sandra Song, the district’s director of educational programs, told the board. Song said the competition began after House leadership approved House Resolution 77 in 2013 and has grown from about 4,000 students to more than 40,000 nationwide.
Cara Sarkar, Beatty’s coding teacher, described how the district integrated the challenge into its advanced coding curriculum so students could collaborate during class time. Sarkar said the program moved from individual after-school participation in 2023 to a project assigned in advanced coding courses. "We had the majority of the advanced coding class enter the Congressional App Challenge," she said.
Students described their projects and motivations. One team said they created an app "to prevent littering at our school" after seeing trash during lunchtime. The district noted two students previously received honorable mentions in earlier challenges and that this year the Beatty class submitted nine programs for consideration.
Paulina Mata, representing U.S. Rep. Derek Tran, presented congressional certificates to students and families. "This year, we received 180 applications for California's 45th District, and we're so glad that Buena Park School District was a part of that," Mata said, congratulating the students and encouraging them to continue coding.
Song, Sarkar and district staff said certificates will be distributed to students who could not attend the meeting and that event photos may appear in the district newsletter. The board applauded the students' work before moving on to other agenda items.
The district emphasized the educational value of the project-based approach: students practiced coding, iteration and peer feedback as part of the curriculum tied to the Congressional App Challenge.
