School App by Senior Devin Gund in National Contest

Earlier this year, Congressman Jim Himes invited all high school students in his district (Ridgefield is in the 4th district) to participate in the first annual Congressional Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Academic Competition, or the House Student App Challenge, modeled after the long-running Congressional Art Competition.  According to the mission of the App Challenge, "This new competition, which is hosted by the U.S. House of Representatives, is designed to engage students' creativity and encourage their participation in STEM education fields. It is a nationwide event that allows high school students from across the country to compete by creating and exhibiting their software application ("app") for mobile, tablet, or other computing devices on a platform of their choice."

Devin Gund, a senior at Ridgefield High School and a rising freshman at Carnegie Mellon University, accepted his invitation and submitted "myRPS," his Ridgefield Schools Info/Alert app that many of us have on our phones and tablets!  This app gives you easy access to information about all the public schools in Ridgefield ~ alerts, information, lunch menus, teacher websites, individual school websites and more.  Born out of necessity after a series of devastating, school closing storms in 2011 and 2012, now you can have all the school info at your fingertips, with our without power (provided you get cell coverage in Ridgefield), by downloading "myRPS."

On May 31, Congressman Jim Himes awarded Devin Gund's app the winner of the 4th CT Congressional District, and his app video will be displayed on House.gov in the near future.  And Congressman Himes was so impressed, he tweeted about it:  "Devin Gund {of} Ridgefield won my House STEM app development contest w/his school alert/info app. On to nationals!"

Congratulations Devin and best of luck at Carnegie Mellon! We are sure the CMU campus will have a new app soon!

Photo: Rep. Jim Himes twitter account.

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Submitted by Ridgefield, CT

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