Press Releases

Last week, Representative Mike Lawler was pleased to congratulate the 17th District's winner for the Congressional App Challenge - Briarcliff High School freshman Bianca Jain. Bianca's app, Cancer Awareness Hub, was inspired by the recent diagnosis of a community librarian with cancer. That revelation inspired her to think of ways she could prevent increases in cancer cases. 

"I had the opportunity to congratulate Bianca in-person at her school last week," said Representative Lawler. "As someone who has lost members of their family to cancer, I was personally moved by Bianca’s app, which raises awareness about different types of cancer to help detect and combat this deadly disease."

Bianca's app was chosen by a panel of expert judges and will be featured on CongressionalAppChallenge.us. The winning app is also eligible to be on display in the U.S. Capitol, along with the winners from across the country. 

Officially launched by the U.S. House of Representatives in 2015, the Congressional App Challenge allows students to compete against their peers by creating an application (also known as an “app”) for desktop/PC, web, tablet, mobile, raspberry Pi or other devices. It accepts any programming language, such as C, C++, Java, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, or "block code." The Challenge is designed to promote innovation and engagement in computer science. The Congressional App Challenge is open to all middle and high school students in the 17th Congressional District of New York.

New York's 17th Congressional District is just north of New York City and contains all or parts of Rockland, Putnam, Dutchess, and Westchester Counties.