Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke in collaboration with New York City Council Member Rita Joseph and Assemblymember Brian A. Cunningham awarded the winners of the Congressional App Challenge of 2022. The award ceremony took place at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum on Friday, Dec. 16, 2022.
“Congratulations to each of the tremendously creative and talented winners of our 2022 Congressional App Challenge! Not only have these students demonstrated their own academic excellence through these projects, but they have shown just how brightly the future of Brooklyn shines. I thank them for their participation in this year’s competition, and I cannot wait to see what achievements lay on their horizons. On behalf of myself, New York State Assemblymember Brian Cunningham and New York City Councilmember Rita Joseph, we would like to thank all students from the 9th Congressional District who participated in this year’s 2022 Congressional App Challenge. We are extremely proud of you! Please, continue to keep up the good work!,” said Congresswoman Clarke before awarding the winners.
Ashie-Kay Murray, Amellia King, Joshua Irving, Seth Lawrence, all in Grade 7 were among the winners of the Congressional App Challenge. They are students at the Ebenezer Preparatory Middle School in Brooklyn, New York.
“It was such an honor to be a part of the STEM focused, youth engaged, community development curriculum,” stated their teacher Melodie Grace during her interview with Caribbean Life, who is their computer science teacher.
“These students who are of Caribbean decent have worked independently and earned their recognition. They proved their knowledge of coding, understanding of user-accessibility and having a user-friendly design. They were able to administer information about the game and tips,” said Grace.
In addition, some of the winners expressed their interest. Lawrence’s favorite subjects at school are math, programming, Spanish and science with hobbies in computers, engineering and soccer. King’s favorite subject at school is science and is interested in coding games and mental health.
The challenge is a nationwide contest that encourage minorities students’ involvement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, also known as STEM. These areas are the fastest growing and developing industries in the world. The students who enter this competition have the potential to advance the economy and succeed in their future endeavors. The program has seen a great increase in participation among disadvantaged and minority students.
U.S. House of Representative leaders who were passionate and felt the need to empower middle and high school students to learn to code and explore technology introduced this challenge in 2013. Moreover, this challenge enables students to tinker in the integral significance of the digital world and strengthen the student’s potential to succeed in coding. Furthermore, it is a way for elected officials to give back to the community and stay involved in the educational progress of students.
Brooklyn Assembly Member Brian A. Cunningham (AD-43) issued the following statement to the winners:
“It gives me great pleasure to honor the winners from Brooklyn’s 9th congressional district. I am so proud of our students for all the hard work they’ve done leading up to this momentous occasion. The Congressional App Challenge is such a great opportunity for young students to learn more about computer science and begin acquiring the skills needed to pursue a career in this exciting and ever-expanding field. STEM is the future- if that isn’t already abundantly clear, that fact only continues to impress upon us. We must do everything we can to encourage our students to participate in STEM education which provides them with the tools and skills needed to enter the nascent future with confidence.”
Congratulation to the winners of the Congregational App Challenge of 2022 and the judges who participated in selecting the winners including Judge Robert Alleyne, founder of the Alleyne Consulting Group, Nickay Piper, founder of the Way Creative House and Khalid Pagan, politics and government outreach manager at META.
