TYNGSBORO — U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan visited Greater Lowell Technical High School on Dec. 19 to congratulate the winner of the Congressional App Challenge, junior Madisyn Koza.
The Congressional App Challenge is hosted in each of the nation’s congressional districts, and challenges students to create an app in an effort to help students learn hands-on lessons about coding and careers in computer science. High school and middle school students from across the 3rd Congressional District participated.
Greater Lowell Technical High School junior Madisyn Koza won the challenge in the 3rd Congressional District by creating an app called CarbonCalc. The app helps users understand what a carbon footprint is and what their own carbon footprint consists of, so that users can better understand their impact on the environment. The app also offers useful suggestions on how users can reduce their carbon footprint to better preserve the environment.
Trahan visited Koza in the Information Technology shop during her visit to bestow the award on her. In addition to earning a visit from Trahan, Koza will have her app displayed in the U.S. Capitol for a year, and also have the app featured on the House.gov website and the website of the Congressional App Challenge. Koza is also now invited to House of Code, a special program and celebration at the Capitol in April. She also earned a chance to attend a three-month class at the Penguin School of Coding in Acton for free, and is entitled to have her registration fees waived if she elects to copyright the app.
After meeting Koza, Trahan visited the school’s lecture hall, where she spoke to Maggie Espinola’s sophomore English students about the importance of civic engagement. The congresswoman shared her story of growing up in a working class household in Lowell and the path that she took to the halls of the U.S. Capitol. She also took questions from students, offering thoughts on topics ranging from advice for achieving success to her efforts to motivate young voters.
“I was thrilled to celebrate Madisyn, a Greater Lowell Tech student, who won this year’s Third District Congressional App Challenge. This competition is a tremendous opportunity to recognize and celebrate the incredible innovation and technical abilities of students here in the Third District and across the nation. Congratulations to Madisyn on her hard work that’s going to make a true impact on the environment,” said Trahan. “It was also great to meet with students and educators at Greater Lowell Technical High School to hear about their priorities and answer their questions. I’m more confident than ever about our next generation of leaders after meeting a group of such brilliant students.”
“I want to congratulate Madisyn Koza on her wonderful and useful app that won the challenge, and I want to thank Rep. Trahan for issuing this challenge, which gave Madisyn and other students across the district an opportunity to learn hands on as they created applications,” said Superintendent Jill Davis. “We are very proud of Madisyn and her app, and very grateful to Rep. Trahan for her continuing support of our students and vocational education.”
To learn more about the Congressional App Challenge, visit congressionalappchallenge.us.
