Rep. Pete Olson (TX-22) today announced that Tavishi Sinha from Missouri City, TX is the TX-22 winner of the 2020 Congressional App Challenge. Sinha is a seventh grader at Quail Valley Middle School. She developed an app to help a national non-profit, Teens Helping Seniors, simplify their grocery delivery process in efforts to combat the spread of COVID-19. Shina’s app will now be displayed at the U.S. Capitol Building as well as on the House of Representatives’ website, House.Gov.
“Technology is the wave of the future,” Rep. Pete Olson said. “Encouraging our children to engage in technology is an exciting way to spark an interest in STEM disciplines that will drive innovation in our economy. Tavishi’s project shows how coding can help address global problems like the COVID-19 pandemic through creative and original solutions.”
“I wanted to help those who were at risk during the pandemic and I realized the seniors in my community were going to be the most vulnerable to the virus,” Tavishi Sinha said. “I could relate to this since my grandparents were living with me and we were doing everything we could to make sure they were safe. When I found out that teens helping seniors were delivering groceries to seniors I wanted to help in any way I could and I realized that my coding experience would be beneficial in creating an app to help them.”
“Tavishi’s app will be tremendously helpful for Teens Helping Seniors, allowing us to track delivery progress and ensure that we don’t make mistakes. The app is also super easy to work with and user-friendly,” said Dhruv Pai, Co-Founder of Teens Helping Seniors.
Teens Helping Seniors was started in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and is a group of volunteers that delivers groceries at no cost to seniors in need. To date, they have 33 chapters in 17 different states which includes Houston, Texas. You can learn more about the work they do at teenshelpingseniors.org. The annual Congressional App Challenge is designed to challenge student’s creativity and encourage their participation in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields.