Scottsdale, Ariz.,May 16, 2014— Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ) released a statement following the announcement of the 2014 STEM Competition Winners of the 6^th Congressional District.

“It was great seeing students and schools take advantage of the business and technology experts available in the community,” said Schweikert. “I was very impressed with the response we received for our first year and the skill it took to create each App.

“Thank you to all of the teachers, advisors, and judges that supported the students. I look forward to next year’s competition.”

Award Recipients:

First Place
Brianne Sprehe and Yohaly Castelo
Paradise Valley High School
Solution Calculator

Second Place
Robert Dodge
Paradise Valley High School
GPA Calculator

Third Place
James Marlar and Danny Duong
Paradise Valley High School
Painty Pad

This year marked the first year for the Congressional App Challenge Coalition’s annual competition, ‘House Student App Challenge.’ Following the style and breadth of the Congressional Art Competition, the House Student App Challenge promotes Computer Science and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education by recognizing and incentivizing our nation’s young programming talent.

The competition ran from early February through the middle of this month. Advisors from complimentary fields were invited to workshops hosted by the district office for student Q/A, collaboration sessions. Judges were invited from STEM fields to serve as assessment to the students’ video applications.

Judges included: Hamid Shojaee, Founder of Axosoft.com; Caleb Barclay, Co-Founder of Blinktank LLC; Lisa Glenn, Director of Programs for New Global Citizens; Matt Yanez, Software Engineer; Arnold Brenner, Co-Founder of the Arizona Science Club. Advisors included: Brad DeSandro, Patent Attorney at Desandro Law Group PLLC; Rebeca Rodriguez, Founder of Xplore Box; Joe Michels, President and CEO of Software Ops.

Learn more about the competition and this year’s winners online, here.

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