Westford Students Win District App Challenge

WESTFORD, MA —Two Westford eighth graders won the Third Congressional District's annual Congressional App Challenge, Congresswoman Lori Trahan announced Wednesday.

Arav Jain and Som Lunavat created "Work for Cause" and it was selected by a panel of local judges from a pool of submissions from middle and high school students who participated in this year’s competition.

Trahan praised the innovation, hours of work and coding ability of the students.

"As we navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, we have relied heavily on community resources to continually support those struggling the most, and this new app will allow these vital organizations to stay even more connected to their volunteers," Trahan, who is a Westford native herself, said in a statement.

The aim of the WorkForCause.org app is to help nonprofit organizations connect with volunteers from the tech community to help them develop videos and produce web applications and mobile content.

"With this app, I hope to help non-profit organizations get the volunteers they need and help our community," said Arav.

Som Lunavat said the district challenge motivated him to develop to make a difference.

"I learned new programming skills, applied them on the project and also had fun working under a timeline,” said Som.

The Congressional App Challenge began in 2013, and since then, more than 14,000 students across 48 states have participated by creating an app.