PIKEVILLE, Ky. -- A record number of students from southern and eastern Kentucky have entered the Congressional App Challenge, as the November 1st deadline quickly approaches. Congressman Hal Rogers got a first-hand look at some of the competitive mobile applications on display at the 2022 SOAR Summit in Pikeville last week, where SOAR and CEDAR, Inc. invited local students to show off their coding talents.

The Congressional App Challenge is an initiative of the U.S. House of Representatives, where Members of Congress host contests in their districts for middle school and high school students, encouraging them to learn to code and inspiring them to pursue careers in computer science.

The winning student team from Kentucky's Fifth Congressional District will be invited to Washington, DC to see their application on display, along with other winners across the country. 

"Our students are proving that they have the ingenuity and high-tech skills to develop useful and innovative mobile apps," said Congressman Rogers, Dean of the U.S. House of Representatives. "I'm very impressed by the applications that our students displayed at the SOAR Summit, and I'm amazed at the resources that our schools can now provide to ensure our students have access to the same opportunities in the mountains as other schools across the country. They are using technology to solve problems in our region and beyond."

The program has yielded 1,782 App Challenges across 50 states. Thousands of functional apps have been created by over 40,000 students.

Students from the following schools in Kentucky's Fifth Congressional District have registered for the competition so far: Belfry High School, Clay County High School, Floyd County Area Technology Center, Floyd County Center for Innovation, Laurel County Center for Innovation, Pikeville Junior High School, and Rowan County High School.

Students from the Floyd County Area Technology Center have won the competition for Kentucky's Fifth Congressional District for the last six consecutive years.

The deadline to enter the Congressional App Challenge is Tuesday, November 1, 2022. To register, visit congressionalappchallenge.us. 

Congressman Rogers talked to local students about their mobile apps at the 2022 SOAR Summit