PHS Student Wins Congressional App Challenge

Perkins High School junior Kia Preston has won the 2025 Congressional App Challenge hosted by 9th District Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur. Kia’s app, “Light Teachings,” was among 16 entries submitted for consideration in this year’s contest.

Kia’s interactive app helps users understand the fundamentals of ray tracing, a computer graphics technique that simulates how light interacts with objects to create realistic images in video and gaming platforms. 

To build the app, Kia invested some 300 hours to write approximately 10,000 lines of code. “I wanted to create something to make all this stuff easily digestible.”

Watch a video of Kia explaining "Light Teachings" (Article continues below)

“Congratulations to Alexander Preston of Perkins High School for winning Ohio’s 9th District 2025 Congressional App Challenge,” Rep. Kaptur said. “This ‘app’ adds to the science and innovation achievements demonstrated by the students at Perkins High School.”

The Congressional App Challenge is an annual competition open to every Congressional District across the United States. The purpose of this challenge is to encourage students from schools across Congressional Districts to compete by creating and submitting a mobile application that will have the opportunity to be chosen as the winner. 

The competition is an opportunity for young adults to explore coding and computer science. It also enables students to learn and expand new skills that are advantageous to future careers and educational opportunities.

“Each year, students’ creativity, ingenuity, and intellectual curiosity continue to astound,” Rep. Kaptur said. “Every student demonstrates integral computer science, engineering, and coding skills that will prepare them for the 21st-century workforce.”

Kia has been invited to attend a #HouseOfCode reception in Washington, D.C., this spring. Kia’s app also will be on display in the U.S. Capitol Building and will be featured on House.gov website for one year. 

Kia is a member of the PHS Robotics Club and the PHS National Honor Society. He expects to pursue a career in computer science after high school.