Floyd County Students Win 2018 Congressional App Challenge 

WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Rep. Harold "Hal" Rogers (KY-05) announced today that a team of Floyd County students have won the 2018 Congressional App Challenge for the fourth consecutive year. The winning team from the Floyd County Area Techonology Center includes: Bobbie Fisher, Nathaniel Curnette, Dustin Janis and Samuel Carroll. They won the competition by developing the KY Safe Student mobile application. Their winning app will be featured in the U.S. Capitol Building this year, representing Kentucky's Fifth Congressional District.

During the fall school semester, thousands of high school students coded original apps as part of district-wide competitions hosted by Members of the U.S. House of Representatives for the nation-wide Congressional App Challenge.

"This team did a wonderful job of developing an app that could be a vital resource for students across the state. The KY Safe Student app organizes information about potential emergency situations, active threats and how to respond during a crisis. It is a truly viable app that could be implemented by our schools to give students critical information at their fingertips," said Congressman Rogers. "I applaud their ingenuity and diligent work on this concept. We have incredibly talented students in Eastern Kentucky and I'm proud that their ideas will be on display in Washington, DC." 

The Congressional App Challenge invites winners from across the country to showcase their apps to Members of Congress and members of the tech community at House of Code, a reception on Capitol Hill that will be held in 2019. 

"We had a brand new app team this year. They did fantastic! They picked up on the coding quickly and chose an app topic that benefits their community," said Dr. Jeff M. Shannon, IT Teacher for Floyd County Area Technology Center. "I'm incredibly proud of them."

"Being a part of the Congressional App Challenge made me feel more successful and I always look forward to going to the meetings and programming," said Bobbie Fisher, a member of the winning team.

"This experience will help me with college and how to code for a living," said Nathaniel Curnutte, a member of the winning team.

"I hope this app will help students be safe and maintain a safe, positive lifestyle," said Samuel Carroll, a member of the winning team.

The students' work will be featured for one year in the U.S. Capitol Building and online at https://House.gov. The winning students will also receive $250 each in Amazon Web Service Credits and one travel voucher from Southwest Airlines to attend the House of Code reception in Washington, DC.

To participate in next year's Congressional App Challenge, stay updated at https://halrogers.house.gov and on Facebook @CongressmanHalRogers. 

Visit CongressionalAppChallenge.us to learn more about the annual competition.