During the last weekend of October. Rep. Suzan DelBene (WA-01) hosted her annual App-a-thon – an event that gives local middle and high school students access to mentors, industry professionals, and hands-on computer science experience.

All apps created by students meet the requirements for submission to this year’s Congressional App Challenge (submission deadline Nov. 1). The students participated in a competition at the end of the App-a-thon on Sunday and judges selected the winning apps. The App-a-thon took place at University of Washington Bothell. A number of Redmond students placed in the contest.

“I want to extend my thanks to the volunteers and partners who made this event possible. In a changing economy where millions of STEM jobs will need to be filled in the years to come, it is important for students to learn to innovate, and the App-a-thon is aimed at achieving that goal,” DelBene said in a press release. “I’ve seen a great deal of creativity and inspiring teamwork these past two days, and I am proud to say that Washington students will really be putting their best foot forward in this year’s Congressional App Challenge.”

This year’s winning App-a-thon apps were:

First Place: Vitality by George Zhang from Tesla STEM High School and Jason Zhang and Rohan Krishnan from Eastlake High School

Second Place: Foodlynk by Raghu Ramamurthy from Eastlake High School and Gyanendra

Sangar and Hanut Sangar from Interlake High School

Third Place: Code 66 by Azhan Zaheer, Varun Wescott, Parum Misri and Brayden Brackett from Tesla STEM High School

Contributors to the App-a-thon included the University of Washington Seattle and Bothell campuses, Amazon, Google, Zillow, Puget Sound Energy, Aerojet Rocketdyne, Microsoft, DigiPen, Blue Origin, the Washington Space Grant Consortium, and the Northeast Earth and Space Science Pipeline.