Press Releases

 

(Pictured: Varun Vadhera of the Charter School of Wilmington, winner of the 2021 Congressional App Challenge)

WILMINGTON, Del. - Today, Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) announced Varun Vadhera of the Charter School of Wilmington as the winner of the 2021 Congressional App Challenge for the creation of the Dose: Eliminating Accidental Drug Overdose Through Technology application. Dose is an application designed to help reduce drug overdoses in patients, primarily for those with forms of dementia, by tracking their medications and sending status notifications in real-time to caregivers. The app works hand in hand with a device created by Varun that dispenses a patient’s medicine, detects if the medication is taken, and notifies the appropriate family member, doctor, or another type of caregiver.

“The Congressional App Challenge proves year after year to be an excellent way to get young people interested in STEM,” said Blunt Rochester. “I was encouraged by the creativity and ingenuity displayed by all of this year’s applicants. I would like to congratulate Varun for his hard work in creating Dose, an application designed to protect patients in Delaware and across the country. To Varun and the other applicants - keep up the excellent, forward-thinking work!”

The Congressional App Challenge was open to all students who meet the eligibility requirements, regardless of coding experience and winners were selected by a panel of judges. 78% of Congress hosted a challenge yielding thousands of application entries across the nation in 2021. The winners will receive an invitation to the #HouseofCode Capitol Hill Coding Exposition and their apps will be featured in the U.S. Capitol, on House.gov, and the Congressional App Challenge website.

The Congressional App Challenge was officially launched in 2015 by Congress to encourage STEM and computer-based skills in middle school and high school students. The Congressional App Challenge helps the U.S. maintain its competitiveness on the global stage by driving economic growth and innovation in our young people. For more information about the Challenge, please visit CongressionalAppChallenge.us. or call Rep. Blunt Rochester’s Wilmington Office at 302-830-2330. Students wishing to submit their apps for the 2022 competition can expect the submission window to be open in summer 2022. 

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