As a part of the 2025 Congressional App Challenge, senior Gregory Mitchell has been announced as the winner of his district’s challenge under Congresswoman Robin Kelly with The Earth App. It is an educational communication app that’s main focus is to help tackle the mental loneliness epidemic that encourages users to expose themselves to new topics and ideas.
The annual Congressional App Challenge is hosted by Members of the U.S. House of Representatives to encourage young minds and innovators to pursue careers within the realm of computer science. Each year, middle and high school students are challenged nationwide to compete in a highly competitive pool of applicants within their district in order to receive recognition for their scientific achievements.
Since each challenge is district-specific, applicants like Mitchell must reach out to their Congressperson to register and submit their app online with students having to “compete in the district they reside in or the district they attend school in,” according to the Congressional App Challenge’s website.
Mitchell stated: “I was inspired to create The Earth App because I noticed how easy it is for people to become stuck in routine, and because of the growing trend of isolation and loneliness facing my generation, and even the older generations before me.”
Aided with knowledge he gained from his AP Psychology class and his own reading and research, Mitchell’s empathy and desire to connect others led him to create an app that not only brings people together, but makes learning simple and accessible to all ages.
Users can navigate and explore through the app’s categories about various subjects. They can choose to learn how to do many activities such as Judo and rollerblading or put their creativity and knowledge to the test by responding to community prompts.
On the more technical side, even before creating The Earth App, Mitchell seemed to have a natural infinity for coding and computers. According to Mitchell, his family had a long history and involvement in computers, with his great-grandfather working with International Business Machines (IBM) computers, the largest research organization in the world, and his father running a software engineering company. He also garnered support from his AP Computer Science Principles teacher, Melissa Jones, who he said “helped me explore and develop my coding expertise.”
Mitchell’s achievements not only show the academic and professional excellence that is present here at H-F, but also serve as an inspiration for young coding enthusiasts and those interested in computer science as he advances into his professional career.
