Lafayette Team Earns 3rd in Congressional App Challenge

The team of Lafayette High juniors Rohan Gopalan, Pardhu Konakandla and Adit Swami earned third place in the 2024 Congressional App Challenge for Missouri’s 2nd District.

The Congressional App Challenge is a national competition highlighting the value of computer science and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education. Established by members of the U.S. House of Representatives in 2015, the Congressional App Challenge allows students from across the country to compete by creating and exhibiting their software application for mobile, tablet or computer devices on a platform of their choice. By recognizing our nation's young programming talent, Congress hopes to shine a light on the growing importance of these skills.

Congresswoman Ann Wagner's office presents the Challenge for Missouri’s 2nd District, with the winner earning an invite to the “House of Code” science fair this spring in Washington, D.C., as well as having their app featured on the U.S. House’s website and as part of a U.S. Capitol exhibit.

"It felt really nice knowing our app could cause an impact in the community, considering it was supposed to be beneficial toward the general population," Konakandla said. "The people who judge the competition noticed that, so it felt good.”

The team described their app -- Health Sphere -- as  an "all-in-one fitness tracker" with artificial intelligence (AI) features. The app helps track health goals as well as providing a personal assistant to give input on medical conditions and symptoms.

Konakandla said the team worked on the app for about two months, from ideation through completion. He handled most of the database building, while Gopalan worked mainly on the user interface coding and Swami worked mostly with AI, though all three pitched in on all aspects of the app.

"All of us have a clear mind that, with the abilities we have in terms of experience in the coding world and AI, we wanted to create an impact in our local communities," Konakandla said. "The Congressional App Challenge seemed to be a good way to do that.”

The three said they're adding a team member for next year and hoping to create a new app that's even more advanced.

"The main thing I like about computer science is the computer does what you tell it to do: nothing more, nothing less. You know what you’re doing wrong or not doing, and you know what your program will do," Swami said. "It’s a really easy way to reach out to people, as apps are something a lot of people download every single day. If you want to make an impact, an app is a good way."

"You can really make anything that you want," Gopalan added. "It’s really just up to your imagination."