Newhouse Announces Winner of the 2024 Congressional App Challenge

WASHINGTON, D.C.- Today, Rep. Dan Newhouse (WA-04) announced the winner of the 2024 Central Washington Congressional App Challenge, an app-designing competition for middle and high school students. Jeffrey Noah from Kennewick High School designed the winning concept, Canari.

His app concept would empower the agricultural industry to share issues affecting their crops and our food supply. Canari uses a database to store user reports and displays the most relevant and severe threats to users depending on their location. The platform is designed to be a free resource for anyone from hobbyist gardeners to industrial farmers. You can view his presentation on the application here(link is external).

"Congratulations to Jeffrey on winning this year's Central Washington Congressional App Challenge!" said Rep. Newhouse.

Newhouse continues, "Each year, students from across Central Washington submit their app concepts and showcase their skills in the STEM field, and Canari is an excellent example of how our region's high schoolers can utilize technology to solve problems in different industries. Thank you to all who submitted, I truly enjoyed viewing all the different apps and seeing everyone's creativity. Congratulations Jeffrey, I am confident you will continue to learn and grow your STEM capabilities and inspire others to do the same."

The winning app was selected by a panel of expert judges from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The winner will receive a PNNL "swag bag" and the app will also be featured on a video display in the U.S. Capitol building, as well as House.gov and the Congressional App Challenge website.

Background:

The CAC was created because Congress recognized that STEM and computer-based skills are essential for economic growth and innovation and that the U.S. has been falling behind on these fronts. By some estimates, the U.S. may be short by as many as 1 million programmers by 2021. These are high-paying, high-demand jobs. To maintain American competitiveness, it's crucial that the United States invests in our youth now and helps them acquire these valuable skills. The CAC encourages students to pursue those skills and recognizes them for their efforts.

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