MINNETONKA, MN – Rep. Dean Phillips (MN-03) kicked off the Congressional App Challenge in Minnesota’s Third Congressional District as students across Minnesota headed back to school last week. The Congressional App Challenge was launched by the House of Representatives in 2015 to highlight the value of computer science and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education. All middle and high school students living or attending school in Minnesota's Third District are invited to participate individually or in teams of up to four.

Students are invited to create an app about any topic, for any platform and in any programming language. Submissions will be judged by a panel of experts on the following criteria: quality of the idea, including creativity and originality; implementation of the idea, including user experience and design; and demonstrated excellence of coding and programming skills. The winner from Minnesota’s Third District will be featured on the Congressional App Challenge website, be displayed in the U.S. Capitol, receive $250 in Amazon Web Services credits, and be invited to #HouseOfCode, a national computer science event held in Washington DC.

MN-03 Congressional App Challenge Judges:

• Casey Helbling, CEO, Software for Good
• Dave Eisenmann, Director of Instructional Technology and Media, Minnetonka Public Schools
• Madeline Burton, Computer Science Teacher, Blake School
• Melissa Kjolsing, Co-Founder and CEO, Recoveree

Important Dates:

• Register online now to secure your place
• Submit app by November 1, 2019
• Winners will be announced in December, 2019

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