Press Releases

Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) today recognized Kennesaw Mountain High School student Ryan Cobelli and Wheeler High School student Arvin Poddar as the winners of the 2016 Congressional App Challenge for Georgia’s 11th Congressional District.

Teammates Ryan Cobelli and Arvin Poddar created a specially designed app called Gradespark – a free online grading system that allows students to easily calculate and manage their grades for multiple classes. As the winning app from Georgia’s 11th District, GradeSpark will be featured on StudentAppChallenge.us, and exhibited on a digital display at the U.S. Capitol.

“A consistent theme I hear when visiting businesses across our district is the need for highly skilled employees with a focus on STEM,” said Rep. Loudermilk. “With this increasing demand, I was inspired by the great response to the Challenge. The response demonstrated that we have extremely talented students in our district who are involved, competing, and furthering scientific knowledge. It is a pleasure to represent such talented students whose futures look bright.”

The Congressional App Challenge is designed to engage student creativity and encourage participation in STEM-based education fields. Established by members of the U.S. House of Representatives in 2013, this competition is part of a nationwide event that allows high school students from across the country to compete by creating and exhibiting their software application, or app, for mobile, tablet, or computer devices on the platform of their choice.

The winner from the 11th Congressional District was selected by an independent panel of expert judges, including:

• Mr. K.P. Reddy, Chief Executive Office, SoftWear Automation, Inc.

• Mr. Jared Miller, Chief Technology Officer, AMB Sports & Entertainment, Atlanta Falcons

• Ms. Svetlana Peltsverger, Interim Associate Dean and Associate Professor at the College of Computing and Software Engineering at Kennesaw State University

Apps were judged based on the following criteria: quality of idea, including creativity and originality; implementation of the idea, including user experience and design; and demonstrated excellence of coding and programming skills.

"Our team of judges was highly impressed by the coding talent of the students from the 11th Congressional District,” said K.P. Reddy, CEO of SoftWear Automation, Inc. “The number of compelling projects submitted certainly made for a difficult decision process. These projects demonstrate how STEM is being prioritized in our schools, and I’m delighted the results are starting to show. These type of Congressional competitions will certainly help develop employees for the high tech sector as well as all manufacturing and technology based companies. I hope to see even more students participate next year."

GradeSpark, the winning app for Georgia’s 11th Congressional District, can be viewed here.