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Sun Jae Nigalye ’25 Designs Prize-Winning Application for Congressional App Challenge

Nichols School eighth grader Sun Jae Nigalye ’25 (pictured right) was a member of the winning team representing New York’s 26th Congressional district in the Congressional App Challenge.
 
Sun Jae and three teammates designed an app called Open Food Facts to assist users in making healthy dietary decisions by giving nutritional information for various foods. The team built a database and an interface to search for different foods using Python, and created a video presentation to pitch their app to a panel of select judges.
 
Sun Jae and his teammates are all members of the Coder School in Buffalo. He has enjoyed learning to use tools like Scratch and participates in robotics at Nichols with Mr. Maynor and Mr. Hiller. Sun Jae’s favorite part of coding is the ability to solve unique problems for others by generating an idea and making it his own.
 
Congressman Brian Higgins congratulated Sun Jae and his team, as well as the other competitors from the district, for their ingenuity in brainstorming solutions which could benefit the local community.
 
“The COVID-19 pandemic has only served to increase the value of coded applications, allowing loved ones to keep in touch, students and teachers to connect virtually, communities to access online informational resources, and residents to order food and other essential goods,” said Congressman Higgins in a press release. “The Congressional App Challenge submissions this year reflected this importance and demonstrated creative and intellectual skill as they aimed to tackle a wide range of issues our community and country face. We commend these students for their work.” 
 
6,500 students from 308 congressional districts registered to create 3,088 applications from scratch to be submitted and reviewed by a panel of select judges.
 
We’d like to congratulate Sun Jae on this fantastic accomplishment!
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Nichols School is a nationally recognized college preparatory coed independent school with a 130-year history.