Some of our Magnet students participated in the 2024 Congressional App Challenge for the 4th Congressional District of Louisiana. Kevin Zhao and Steward Lokitz were top finishers, and the overall winner was Maya Trutschl.

Maya’s app “Cal Capture” will be featured on the house.gov website and the congressionalappchallenge.us website. In addition, she will be invited to #HouseOfCode in Washington, DC to showcase her app with competitors from other districts. She will receive a copyright fee waiver through the ARTS Act, and her app will be on display in the US Capitol Building for one year.

From Maya:

I developed an app that streamlines the process of converting dates on paper documents into calendar entries by scanning the text and extracting relevant information. The app utilizes optical character recognition (OCR) technology and machine learning to identify and recognize text and dates. Once the dates are extracted, the user is presented with a prompt to enter the events’ start time, duration, and  title, and the app then automatically generates iCalendar entries. Cal Capture seamlessly integrates with their digital calendars. This automation not only saves time but also minimizes the risk of manual entry errors, enhancing productivity and organization for all users.

​Special thanks to Matthew McKee with Speaker Mike Johnson’s office for coming out to recognize our winners. Great job, students!