Malliotakis Announces Winners of High School Congressional App Challenge for 2023
(WASHINGTON, DC) - Today Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis announced Marta Bekirman from New Dorp High School placed first in the 2023 Congressional App Challenge for New York’s 11th Congressional District for developing the "Helping Staten Island" App. Tobias Lin of Coney Island Prep High School placed second for developing the "Pick Up Share" app.
Bekirman's "Helping Staten Island" App was coded using Java, and allows users to locate different volunteering opportunities, both virtual and in person, throughout Staten Island, and track volunteering hours.
I was proud to congratulate Marta for winning our office's Congressional App Challenge two years in a row,” Malliotakis said. “Helping Staten Island would be a fantastic resource for students looking to get involved in our community, track volunteer hours and find ways to give back. When young people volunteer in their communities, they develop essential life skills and a sense of social responsibility that encourages them to be more civically engaged. Marta is extremely creative and I’m proud to recognize her talent along with her efforts to make Staten Island a better place to live, work, and recreate."
"I was not able to access many volunteering opportunities on Staten Island, so I wanted to create a resource that anyone could use to locate volunteering opportunities," Marta said. "The intended audience is students or people on Staten Island who want to help the community become a better place for volunteering."
The runner up, Tobias Lin of Coney Island Prep High School, created "Pick Up Share," an app that assists busy parents who need someone to drive their children to and from school. The app also includes a database of community trusted after school programs and a page where families can donate old uniforms.
"After witnessing the sheer quantity of emails my mom was receiving regarding busy parents looking for someone to pick up their children from school, I realized that there was nothing out there that would help parents balance their work and parenting at the same time," Tobias said. "I understand that parenting can be very difficult, and many parents may not have the time or energy to take care of their children as much as they would like to due to their jobs. As a result, I set out to design a web application that could help parents all over the world be both better parents and better providers for their children."
Bekirman's Helping Staten Island App will be displayed in the Capitol Building, along with House.Gov and the Congressional App Challenge's website for one year. The Congressional App Challenge is an annual nationwide competition sponsored by the Internet Education Foundation to inspire students to explore STEM, coding, and computer science through hands-on practice.