{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://lipinski.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=91&itemid=3474", "Lipinski Names Local Student Winner of Congressional App Challenge", "2017-12-07", "2017", "2017-12", "Democrat", "House", "IL", "Daniel Lipinski", "L000563", "lipinski.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Congressman Dan Lipinski (IL-3) is proud to announce that Lyons Township High School Senior Scott Turro is the Third District\u2019s winner of this year\u2019s Congressional App Challenge.\u00a0 The Countryside resident\u2019s app, \u201cWater Ring Game,\u201d cleverly reproduces a classic childhood toy in the form of a mobile device app.  \u201cThe app submissions we received varied significantly, and all were great demonstrations of the students\u2019 creativity and skill,\u201d said Rep. Lipinski.\u00a0 \u201cScott\u2019s app stood out for the sophistication of the code and the STEM skills he demonstrated.\u00a0 I want to congratulate him and thank his family and his teacher, Natalie Carlson, for their support.\u00a0 All of the students who submitted apps to this year\u2019s competition did great work.\u201d  Scott worked hard to program realistic movements into the rings, mimicking how plastic rings move through water and bounce off walls.\u00a0 To do this, he developed algorithms that drew on his physics and math skills.\u00a0 The result is a realistic reproduction that even responds to the user shaking the phone.\u00a0  A video featuring Scott\u2019s app will be played throughout the year on a screen in the U.S. Capitol, and he will receive credits for free web hosting services and an invitation to a special coding-related event next year in Washington, D.C.  A panel of experts, including John\u00a0McDonnell from\u00a0Infogix, Inc., Catherine\u00a0Greenspon from Project Infinite Green, and Steven McGee from The Learning Partnership, judged the apps.  \u201cI was very impressed with the quality of the submissions,\u201d said McGee.\u00a0 \u201cEach of the students identified an interesting problem to address and their apps represented a great first step at providing solutions.\u201d\u00a0  The runners-up are Amos Alonzo Stagg High School student Monica Para, who entered an app called \u201cEsteemBeam,\u201d and Whitney Young Magnet School student Gabriel Laniewski, who entered an app called \u201cLocker Buddy.\u201d\u00a0  The Congressional App Challenge began in 2015 as a way to inspire students from every corner of the country to explore STEM, coding, and computer science through hands-on practice.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://lipinski.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=91&itemid=3474"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.983901184052229, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}