Adam Elitzur, a South Florida Tech Hub intern and South Florida 12th grader won the 2023 Congressional App Challenge in Florida’s 25th District.Â
The Congressional App Challenge is made up of members of the U.S. House of Representatives who host annual district-wide challenges for middle school and high school students, encouraging them to learn to code and inspiring them to pursue careers in computer science. Each challenge is district-specific and the U.S. Representatives publicly recognize the winning teams. Each winning app may be put on display in the U.S. Capitol Building for one year. The Congressional Internet Caucus initiates the annual CAC.
The Congressional App Challenge’s mission is to Inspire, Include and Innovate: inspire students from every corner of the country to explore STEM, coding and computer science through hands-on practice, to actively include and engage students from communities that are traditionally underrepresented in the tech community, and to innovate policymaking by connecting members of Congress to new and emerging technologies through personal interactions with their student constituents.
Songlingo is a fun, free website that helps people learn languages through songs. Songlingo will have you singing your way to fluency in no time! The app allows you to save specific words, songs and even compete against others with its leader board. For the price of a coffee (or or more), you can support this student-built app by making a donation.
Adam Elitzur
The winning app was created by Adam Elitzur, a 12th grader currently enrolled at Posnack School which is a private Jewish day school located in Davie and the premier college preparatory Jewish school in Florida equipping students for success in a complex & interdependent world. Posnack School is a leader in the use of educational technologies to improve learning and engage students and has hosted events such as Hackathons to engage students in STEM-related activities that also support the community.
After moving to Broward with his family, Adam quickly realized the diversity of the South Florida region and the multitude of languages in the region. Over 25% of Broward County’s population speaks spanish and of that group almost 40% of that group speaks limited English. Adam also encountered a kindergarten student while volunteering with a local youth group witnessing how difficult is was for this child to communicate with other children and to make friends. Adam knew he had to learn spanish. He decided to build Songlingo.
Adam quickly gained proficiency in the language allowing him to better communicate with the spanish-speaking community around him. He quickly realized how impactful this technology could be used for those struggling to learn the English language. Removing the language barrier could improve access to healthcare, education, higher paying jobs and a plethora of other resources and opportunities.
“I began spreading the word through language learning social media channels. The site now has over 5,500 language learners across the globe, bridging language and cultural barriers,” Adam stated in an interview for a Congressional App Challenge article.
Debbie Wasserman Schultz
Debbie Wasserman Schultz, serves as the U.S. representative for Florida’s 25th congressional district, first elected to Congress in 2004. She was in attendance for Songlingo’s pitch and announcement of the first place award stating, “Congrats to this year’s FL-25 Congressional App Challenge winner!”
She continued, “Adam Elitzur’s app, Songlingo, aids language learning through music! I’m so inspired by all the STEM students, parents and teachers who made this year’s challenge a success.”
Adam Elitzur (center) attends Tech Hub’s SoFlo DevCon 2023.
Adam is also an intern working at South Florida Tech Hub as a contributing writer. He was introduced to the organization when he attended Soflo DevCon 2023, a annual software developers conference, currently being held at Nova Southeastern University’s Davie campus. He attended the conference, attended classes and workshops, and connected with the CEO at the conference offering to write a recap article of the event.
As he awaits responses to a few of the universities he applied for, Adam just received an offer letter from the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). We are awaiting to hear what he officially decides!
The 2024 Congressional App Challenge will launch in May of 2024, and eligible students can pre-register for the competition now.
To learn more about Songlingo, visit www.song-lingo.com