MEESA students' innovation wins Congressman Scott's App Challenge
Posted: February 10, 2026
Newport News Public Schools students took home first place and third place honors at Congressman Bobby Scott's Congressional App Challenge reception on February 7 at the Brooks Crossing Innovation and Opportunity Center.
A team from the Maritime Engineering and Environmental Studies Academy, which is a collaborative lab school partnership between Old Dominion University and NNPS that opened in the fall, won the competition with its Library Logistics App. The MEESA team consisted of Malachai Finch, an eleventh grader at Menchville High School; Amari Gatling, an eleventh grader at An Achievable Dream Middle & High School; Amialyn Lipsey, an eleventh grader at Heritage High School; and Dameon Saunders, an eleventh grader at Warwick High School.
Owen Balingit, a twelfth grader at Menchville High School, received third place for his app, VisiTracker.
Scott, Newport News Mayor Phillip Jones and Newport News School Board Chair Dr. Terri Best were in attendance to honor the work of students who participated in the 2025 3rd Congressional District App Challenge, to celebrate with the students and announce the winners.
MEESA's Library Logistics App is designed to make library management smoother and more efficient for both students and teachers. The project originally began as a school project for MEESA students to create an automatic checkout system for students and to get them more interested in reading, according to team members who worked on the app.
Balingit's VisiTracker app is a facial recognition program. It is designed so that students who have forgotten their student IDs can have their faces scanned to be easily identified.
"Our students took the logistics concepts they've been learning and put them into action right here in our school," said Tirzah Jaynes, MEESA program administrator and lead teacher. "Working as a team, they applied global logistics skills to a real need and designed an app to streamline library services, supporting both a neighboring school and our growing half-day program."
The Congressional App Challenge is a prestigious prize in student computer science. Members of the U.S. House of Representatives host district-wide Congressional App Challenges for middle school and high school students, encouraging them to learn to code and inspiring them to pursue careers in computer science.
