South Windsor teen's mobile app to combat procrastination honored in Congressional App Challenge
SOUTH WINDSOR — As a teen who loves technology and video games but struggles with procrastination, South Windsor High School senior Ryan Duong found a way to use his passion to solve his problem.
Ryan, 17, created an app called "ClockIn!," a program that allows users to schedule out their tasks.
While there are many apps that have similar functions, what makes his app unique is that "you can only schedule plans for today or tomorrow, so you don't overwhelm yourself," he said.
He said users can create a schedule on the app and follow the directions from there. When a user adds a task to do, the app will automatically do a Google search for that particular task, such as providing links to hints on how to sleep well if you schedule time to rest.
Ryan said that it only took him about a week to create the app, and because of its minimal design, it's user friendly.
He created the app for Android phones because it was free to do on its platform, Android Studio, though he said he might look into developing it for iPhones once he has time to learn about Apple's system.
Though the app is still in the publishing process and is not yet available to the public, it has already caught the attention of a national app contest. "ClockIn!" was selected for the 2023 Congressional App Challenge, an annual academic competition between middle and high school students in each congressional district that encompasses the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math.
As winner for Connecticut's First District, his app will be highlighted on the U.S. House of Representatives website.
Ryan said he was awarded a copyright waiver to register his app for free, and he and his family have been invited to attend #HouseofCode, a national science fair that will be held this April in Washington, D.C.
"I want to congratulate Ryan on his amazing achievement,” said U.S. Rep. John Larson, D-1st District. "He furthered his passion for coding by entering this competition, and his inventive scheduling app strikes an important balance between time management and mindfulness. I want to thank his teacher, Joseph Fazzino, for supporting him and other students to explore STEM fields and take on new opportunities like the Congressional App Challenge.”
Fazzino, Ryan's AP Physics teacher, said that Ryan "routinely demonstrates ingenuity and creativity," so he was not surprised that he would create "such a creative and valuable tool."
"We here at the high school are very proud of him and look forward to seeing what he comes up with next," Fazzino said.
Ryan said he has been interested in coding since he was 11 years old, getting into programming through his love of video games. It was time spent playing the online game "Roblox" that gave him the opportunity to create his own games within the program under the moniker, Lugical.
He said he likes coding because it allows him to let his thoughts run wild.
"With code, you can think of different ways to pursue what you want," Ryan said. "It's always resonated with me. Anything can happen just because of a couple lines of code."
Students interested in competing in the 2024 challenge can preregister online at congressionalappchallenge.us.