10/17/16   Congressman Bruce Westerman Talks Up The Coding App Challenge

In his weekly newsletter, 4^th District Congressman Bruce Westerman talked about the Congressional App Challenge.

Westerman says for students who have taken an interest in coding, the Congressional App Challenge is a place students can highlight their talents for the state and country to see.

The App Challenge is a competition aimed at encouraging U.S. High school students to learn how to code by creating their own smartphone and tablet applications. The Challenge is intended to highlight the value to computer science and STEM, which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, education and encourage students to engage in these fields.

Westerman said last year was his first year to host a district-wide application competition, with a total of 11 apps submitted. He said he hopes this year's App Challenge has even more entries. According to Code dot org, there are currently 1042 open computing jobs in the state of Arkansas, but only 272 computer graduates statewide.