‘Congressional App Challenge’ student winners’ project becomes law
High school students Axel Toro and Diego Rivera from the Dr. Carlos González School in Aguada won the “Congressional App Challenge” in Puerto Rico with their project, “Quiero Almorzar,” an app that proposes changing the manual system for lunches used in public schools.
The app’s purpose was turned
into a bill, House Resolution 348, introduced by Rep. José “Che”
Pérez-Cordero and signed into law by Gov. Ricardo Rosselló, Puerto Rico
Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González confirmed.
The app seeks to change the method used in schools requiring teachers to deliver a list of students who will have lunch, to one that allows them to send the information in through the mobile device without leaving the classroom.
Toro is a junior and Rivera is
a senior at the Aguada school and coincide in the Technology Club led by Yamitza
Rosa who encouraged the two to participate in the competition. The coding
languages they used to create the application platform were HTML, CSS and
AZURE. The evaluation of the competing applications was done by executives of
Engine-4, a cooperative work space that seeks to attract entrepreneurial and
technological innovators.
RC 348 orders the Department of
Education to create a pilot program in various regions of Puerto Rico’s
education system to create a list of students will have lunch at the school similar
to the “Quiero Almorzar” program. The pilot program will start in the
western region.
The Congressional App Challenge
is a competition among middle and high school students, from both public and
private institutions. The competition in each congressional district is
sponsored by the U.S. House of Representatives to promote interest in science,
technology, engineering and mathematics. Participants have to create and submit
an application for digital platforms.
