Send Joliet's Congressional App Winners to DC!

In the fall of 2020, Bailey Shettel and Madigan Sullivan signed up for Code Girls United's free afterschool program for 4th-8th grade girls in Joliet. When Jade Forsman joined the girls, they quickly became three best friends working each year on projects for both the Code Girls United App Challenge and the Congressional App Challenge. While they have other outside-of-school interests like cheer, basketball, drawing and sewing, they continue to pursue their love of coding and technology!

Fast Forward to 2024, these 3 talented young ladies have been declared winners of the 2023 Congressional App Challenge for Montana's 2nd District! The Congressional App Challenge is a nationwide event that allows middle and high school students from across the country to compete against their peers by creating and exhibiting their software application. Winning teams are invited to Washington DC for 'House of Code' during The National Science Fair! Winning apps will be put on display in the U.S. Capitol Building April 10-11, 2024!

Their winning app, Know H2O, addresses the problem of contaminated water and wells. The goal of their project was to provide an option for Montanans to locate wells and provide direction on how to report and potentially remediate contamination.

Through their market research and competitive analysis, the girls determined that many people do not know if they are using contaminated water from wells. People also don't know what to do if they have or find a well with contaminated water, especially after flooding or chemical spills. The girls wanted to create an app that combined the information about wells and contamination into an easily accessible app.

You can watch their Pitch video at: Chix in Kix Know H2O

Code Girls United is extremely proud of the hard work the Chix in Kix team put into their creation. Please help us send these girls for a once-in-a-lifetime experience to present their work and have an unforgettable learning experience in Washington DC, April 10-11!

Founded in 2016, Code Girls United is a 501.3c organization whose mission is: to expand the future career opportunities of 4th to 8th-grade girls through hands-on experiences in coding, technology, and business. CGU offers free after-school programming for girls in rural and tribal communities. Empowering Tomorrow’s Innovators: Code Girls United – Where Coding, Technology, and Business Unite!