Rep. McCollum Congratulates Congressional App Challenge Winner Idrees Ahmad

SAINT PAUL, Minn. - On Friday evening, Congresswoman Betty McCollum (MN-04) congratulated Idrees Ahmad of Woodbury, Minnesota, for winning the 2024 Fourth Congressional District App Challenge. His app, MinnVotes, is designed to boost voter turnout among young voters and students by helping users develop and build a plan to vote. MinnVotes streamlines the voting process by offering a modern user-friendly approach to retrieve voting information.

During the virtual event, Congresswoman McCollum also congratulated Riddhi Singhvi & Coolsjes Singhvi from Stillwater Area High School, who took second place with their app, Green Grub: Reducing Waste, Feeding People. Amanitya Ghosh & John Stepnowski from Mounds View High School and Spandan Datta & Devanshu Shah from Eden Prairie High School took third place with their app, PalorahAI.

"Congratulations to Idrees Ahmad for winning the 2024 Fourth Congressional District App Challenge," Congresswoman McCollum said. "I was highly impressed with the creativity of the apps submitted by students across Minnesota's Fourth Congressional District and the ways their apps tackled some of the toughest challenges with a goal to improve lives. Every student who submitted an app should be extremely proud of their hard work. This competition fosters the ingenuity and creativity of next generation STEAM superstars in the East Metro."

Eric Ebbesen judged the App Challenge for the third year. Eric is a brigade captain for Open Twin Cities, a local organization fostering an inclusive community of civic collaboration and championing open government and civic technology for positive social impact and civic engagement. Eric also serves as a Manager and Software Engineer at the Metropolitan council.

The Congressional App Challenge is a nationwide STEAM competition for students interested in tech. Middle and high school students are encouraged to enter next year's competition by submitting an app of their own creation by late October 2025. Students interested in participating can pre-register here.

Students and teachers can find more information about the competition at mccollum.house.gov.

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