MHS coders win Congressional App Challenge

Marianas High School juniors Carson Lin, James Lin, Jaehoon Son, and Dip Roy are the winners of the 2021 Congressional App Challenge with their app, A’ayuda. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Marianas High School juniors Carson Lin, James Lin, Dip Roy, and Jaehoon Son are the winners of the 2021 Congressional App Challenge.

Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) announced Friday that the team of four received the top scores from judges among a total of 15 submissions from schools across the Northern Marianas with their app, A’ayuda.

“This year’s App Challenge featured some of the most sophisticated apps that I have seen from students,” said Sablan. “Both new and experienced coders displayed thoughtfulness in their app ideas and great dedication to coding their apps according to their vision. The skills they demonstrated speaks volumes about the determination, creativity, and initiative of young coders right here in the Marianas.”

The Congressional App Challenge is an annual coding competition for middle school and high school students hosted by Members of Congress nationwide. Students can work either individually or in a team of up to four individuals to create an app for any platform, using any coding language of their choice. Students compete only with other coders in their congressional districts. This is the sixth year that Sablan has hosted an App Challenge.

The MHS team’s winning app, A’ayuda, is a Web-based app that provides a community-driven platform for everyday people to learn and share knowledge about the Chamorro and Carolinian language.

When asked what inspired them to create A’ayuda, the students said, “We remember that as middle school students, making a sentence in Chamorro was really difficult, because the only resources that non-speakers got were a couple dictionaries that we could only use in the classroom and sometimes, we had to look up some words online, and most of them were inaccurate or misleading. “Now that we have matured, we think this will be a big problem for the students, because classes and local libraries are already experiencing shortages of these dictionaries, there are very few teachers in the school system teaching the language, and sometimes students are fed with misinformation online. Instead, we could use a dedicated space, driven by the community, to help the next cycle of students to learn about the language.”

All four members of the winning team will receive national recognition by having their app on display in the U.S. Capitol for a period of one year. Students will also receive invitations to the annual House of Code reception, where young coders will have the opportunity to showcase their apps to Members of Congress and other coders from across the nation.

This year’s second and third place teams comprise young coders from Mount Carmel School. Seniors Aleia Santos and Richard Villagomez received second place with their app, Irensia, a mobile app that presents users with multiple features essential to helping them learn about the Chamorro language, culture, and people. Hyunkyu Park and Hyunjun Kim came in third place with their app, My Mood Calendar, a mobile app wherein users can practice self-care by recording the moods and feelings that they had throughout the day.

Sablan received a total of 15 app submissions from three different schools—Marianas High School, Mount Carmel School, and Saipan Community School. A total of 35 students participated in this year’s Challenge, ranging from 8th to 12th grade. (PR)