Peninsula Teen's Tech Skills Land Her Congressional Contest Win

SAN MATEO, CA — Congresswoman Jackie Speier (CA-14) on Friday announced Erika Pilpre as the winner of this year’s Congressional App Challenge. Pilpre, a resident of San Mateo and a student at Aragon High School, created an app to improve memory. She demonstrated “Observe!” to the Congresswoman in her district office.

“I wanted to create a fun memory game to speed up brain processing and help people improve their attention span and memory skills,” Pilpre said. “My dream goal is to help delay or even prevent dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.”

“I am so impressed with Erika’s technical skills and noble motivation to help others,” Speier said. “This competition is a great opportunity for high school students to show their creativity and prepare themselves for our extremely competitive high-tech economy.”

The Congressional App Challenge was authorized by House Resolution 77 and based on the Congressional Art Competition held since 1982. The nationwide competition is for high school students who compete to create and exhibit an app for mobile or computer devices. The wining participants from all Congressional Districts will have their apps displayed in the U.S. Capitol, be invited to a reception in Washington, and have their app videos featured on house.gov.

— PHOTO AND TEXT SUBMITTED FOR PUBLICATION BY: Office of Congresswoman Jackie Speier