Press Releases

Washington, DC -Today, Congressman Van Drew announced Saketh Agava and Prathik Agava as the winners of the 2024 Congressional App Challenge for New Jersey's 2nd District with their app, Gift8. The Congressional App Challenge is a nationwide competition where middle and high school students create original apps to showcase their coding skills and creativity. It is designed to encourage students to learn to code and to consider careers in computer science.

Saketh and Prathik created Gift8 after being inspired by their time volunteering with a hospice patient. The app is designed to help people stay connected with loved ones by encouraging users to spend eight minutes a day reaching out to family or friends. Gift8 helps users prioritize important relationships by setting up reminders, providing articles on social connection and mental health, and making it easy to send messages directly in the app.

"I am so proud of Saketh and Prathik for creating such a thoughtful and inspiring app," said Congressman Van Drew. "Gift8 is a great example of how technology can be used to make a real difference in people's lives. It is amazing to see young people in our district using their talents to tackle big issues like loneliness and mental health. Congratulations to Saketh, Prathik, and all the incredible students who took part in this year's competition. The creativity and hard work we saw from all of our students this year was outstanding. They give me so much hope for the future and I cannot wait to see what they accomplish next."