Students Win Congressional App Challenge
Waukee Community School District students took home another victory with their app, “City Recycle Day.”
Students receive certificates after Skyping with Congressman David Young.
Prairieview students Sabarish Mogallapalli, Shriya Magatapalli, Owen Scott and Waukee High School senior, Sankalp Yamsani were awarded first place out of nine teams in the Third District Congressional App Challenge (CAC) on Monday, Dec. 4. The students were congratulated via Skype by Congressman David Young.
“It is amazing to see what our young people can create. When I was able to see what City Recycle Day can do and the time, research and effort the students put into it, I was really amazed at how well these students did,” said Congressman Young. “After speaking with the students today I am even more impressed with their continued commitment to the project.”
“City Recycle Day” has been a long time coming. In 2014, a group of seven students started working on the idea for this app. Now in 2017, the team consists of four students, and an app with three main features: trash and recycle day pick up reminders, an event calendar and delay and cancellation alerts.
“It’s fun creating stuff because you get to problem solve through it, so I think the creation part has been fun for all of us and winning is pretty awesome too,” said team member, Scott.
The team has won numerous awards including, “Best in State” for the Verizon Innovative Learning App Challenge and “Best Innovative Project” as well as “Best Core Values” at the Iowa FLL Championship.
Students receive the award and are congratulated by Prairieview principal Juley Murphy-Tiernan, Waukee High School principal Cary Justmann and Waukee Community School District Superintendent Cindi McDonald.
The team is currently working on getting their app approved in the city of Clive. If the app is approved, it will be available to download for Android users.
The team has been mentored for the past three years by parent, Sreehari Mogallapalli.
According to the Congressional App Challenge the, “mission is to inspire, include and innovate efforts around STEM, coding, computer, and science education.” Students from across the country participate in the CAC for chance to win prizes and have their work on display at the Capitol Building in Washington D.C.
