McCollum Congratulates Winners of the 2023 Fourth Congressional District App Challenge

On Tuesday, Congresswoman Betty McCollum (MN-04) held a virtual event to congratulate Isaac Tsai of Shoreview, Minnesota, a student at Mounds View High School, for winning the 2023 Fourth Congressional District App Challenge for his app NTRL, which is designed to help users engage with nature and open up about their mental health by responding to daily thought-provoking questions. Congresswoman McCollum offered her congratulations:

“It is a pleasure to congratulate the winner of the 2023 Fourth Congressional District App Challenge and recognize the other finalists,” Congresswoman McCollum said. “My office and our fantastic judges were impressed with the creativity of the apps submitted by students in Minnesota's Fourth Congressional District and the ways in which their apps solve real problems or improve people’s lives. Every student who submitted an entry to this year’s contest should be extremely proud of their hard work. I am proud to host this competition to foster the next generation of STEAM superstars in the East Metro.”

Isaac Tsai was inspired to create NTRL to give students an outlet to speak freely about their struggles by providing a space that facilitates thoughtful conversations about difficult topics. Motivated by the increase of high school students who self-report struggles with their mental health during and after the Covid-19 pandemic, Isaac hopes to provide an avenue for students to talk openly about what they are experiencing and know that they are not alone. Users have two windows to provide responses to questions and are encouraged to take a picture of the day’s sunrise or sunset. The responses are then overlaid on the photo and placed in their journal. Isaac also developed a community tab to allow users to see the responses of others.

The winning app was chosen by a panel of judges from the Fourth Congressional District. As the winner of this year's competition, Isaac will have the opportunity to visit Washington D.C. for the #HouseofCode Capitol Hill Reception, to demo his app, and to have his entry featured in a display at the U.S. Capitol Building.

During Tuesday’s event, Congresswoman McCollum also congratulated the second and third place winners of the App Challenge:

• Riddhi Singhvi and Coolsjes Singhvi from Stillwater Area High School took second place with their app, Speak Up Secure, which offers a secure and confidential complaint management system for organizations and employees.
• Jacob Rome and Akshay Alluri from Woodbury High School and Math and Science Academy, respectively, took third place with their app, Liberty Learning, an educational app to help users succeed in their U.S. citizenship test as well as learn more about our nation’s history and civic traditions.

Judges for this year's competition were Eric Ebbesen and Salman Elmi. Eric Ebbesen is a brigade captain for Open Twin Cities, a local organization fostering an inclusive community of civic collaboration and championing open government and civic technology for positive social impact and civic engagement. Salman Elmi is a Co-Founder of Tavolo, an app partnered with Twin Cities restaurants streamlining reservations, dining options, and payment methods. Salman is a recipient of the emerging startup award from BETA and an outstanding refugee award for the state of Minnesota.

The Congressional App Challenge is a nationwide STEAM competition where students create an application or "app" for desktop/PC, web, tablet, mobile, or other devices. Fourth Congressional District middle and high school students are encouraged to enter next year's competition by submitting an app of their own creation. Students and teachers can find more information about the competition at mccollum.house.gov. Information on the 2024 competition will be available in the coming months.

###