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Quigley Announces Winner of Congressional STEM App Contest

July 3, 2014

CHICAGO — This week, U. S. Representative Mike Quigley (IL-05) announced Trushitha Narla as the winner of the House Student App Challenge for Illinois' 5th Congressional District. Narla's app, Sign It!, translates numbers in sign language to a text format using leap motion technology that captures data from the user's finger motions.

"My application is the first step towards sign language learning software using the Unity engine and the leap motion," said Narla, a senior at Northside College Prep. "For now, the app only recognizes the numbers one through ten. In the future, I hope to use the leap motion to build a whole library of signs so that people can be able to easily communicate via sign language to others locally or globally."

"Ms. Narla's app reminds us that science and technology have the power to change lives and improve our community, and I'm proud to have her represent Illinois' 5th in the House Student App Challenge," said Quigley. "Over the next decade there will be an estimated 8.5 million STEM job opportunities but only one million qualified graduates. By encouraging students to create their own app and pursue an education in STEM fields, the House Student App Challenge will help close the gap and develop a stronger, high-skilled workforce. I look forward to making the Challenge an annual tradition."

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2014.07.02 STEMAppWinner

Congressman Quigley congratulates Trushitha Narla from Northside College Prep on winning the 2014 House Student App Challenge for Illinois' 5th District.

Narla will be attending Brown University in the fall, where she intends to study computer science and pursue extracurricular activities in fine arts and dance. This summer she heads to Silicon Valley to work at the inaugural Girls Make Games Camp at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA. Narla's app Sign It! is available here. Videos are also available detailing her App Challenge submission and what she learned from the creation process.

New this year, the House Student App Challenge 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. Throughout the competition period, participating students were provided opportunities to engage with various STEM educational partners, located within their own communities, to mentor and assist them with their app development.

Rep. Quigley is a member of the New Democrat Coalition, a group of Congressional lawmakers that promotes policies that harness American ingenuity, innovation and entrepreneurship to grow our economy and create jobs. Locally, he has hosted roundtables with startup companies at 1871 and entrepreneurs at Free Range Office Space to discuss the importance of high-tech entrepreneurship and ways the federal government can support the industry. He has also met with manufacturers and educators to discuss the critical role science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education plays in the growth of the economy.

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Issues:Education