Congressman Bentz Announces Congressional App Challenge Winners for 2021 in Oregon's Second District: Rami Hozi, Blake Wickers, Cordell Patrick, and Zeferino Araiza of Hermiston High School

Press Release

Today,Congressman Cliff Bentz (R-Ontario) announced the 2021 winners of the Congressional App Challenge for Oregon's Second Congressional District: Rami Hozi, Blake Wickers, Cordell Patrick, and Zeferino Araiza from Hermiston High School.

The students created Emergency!, an all-in-one app that allows users to access emergency services such as phone numbers, location, contacts, and a map.The idea originally came from a concept that involved providing people an easy and convenient way to access some of the most popular safety and emergency services. Within the app, users can dial any phone number from the provided list of emergency contacts, get an exact location (latitude, longitude, and address), reach emergency contacts, and access a map that pinpoints nearby emergency locations.

"The Emergency app has been in the works for a long time," said Robert Theriault, computer science teacher at Hermiston High School. "The students thought of the app last year and have been planning the best way to implement the app. It was decided early on that they wanted it on both Android and iOS so that a majority of mobile users could utilize the app. However, this meant that they needed to learn two interfaces to get both systems working. It was one of the largest endeavors I have seen in the last 6 years at Hermiston High School."

Congressman Bentz was also pleased with the creativity and skill of the Hermiston High School team. "I applaud these students for their coding skills, their worthy goal of helping people reach emergency services, and their ability to communicate the usefulness of their app," said Bentz. "They chose to pursue a project that could save lives and prove to be a valuable tool in communities around the world. I commend them for their work and congratulate them on winning this year's competition."

A video of the students' app will be featured in the U.S. Capitol Building and on the House of Representatives website. The Congressional App Challenge is an avenue for encouraging students to pursue careers in coding, math or science fields. Congressman Bentz encouraged students from across Oregon's Second Congressional District to create and submit apps in the 2022 competition when it is announced later this year.

Those interested in learning more may find more information on Congressman Bentz's website: bentz.house.gov/services/congressional-app-challengeand on the official Congressional App Challenge website: http://www.congressionalappchallenge.us/.

Source