By Lindsay Peyton 

What started as a school project may turn into a claim to fame for a couple of West Seattle teens. 

Already, Aidan Day and Will Rasmussen, both seniors at West Seattle High, have been recognized by the U.S. House of Representatives for their efforts.  

The duo won the 2017 Congressional App Challenge, a competition designed to engage students in coding and computer science. About 190 Congressional districts across 42 states hosted app challenges for their teenage constituents. More than 4,100 students participated in the 14-week long regional competitions. 

Day and Rasmussen took home the prize for the 7th Congressional District and will be awarded by U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal this week. 

The two students – friends since sixth grade -- are now both 17 years old, honor students and technophiles. They’re ideal project partners, because Rasmussen loves creating software, while Day is willing to dig into the hardware. 

When their computer science teacher Roger Miller challenged them to create a way to make taking daily class attendance easier, Day and Rasmussen jumped at the opportunity. 

“He gave us a framework, and we ran with it,” Day said. 

The pair was inspired by ORCA cards, electronic passes that riders use on public transit, and created their own tags that students could scan to mark their presence in class. The computer then registers the students, saving teachers from taking the time to mark them “here” or “absent.”

The “Roll Call” app has been in the works for the past few months, and Day and Rasmussen are still putting the finishing touches on the system. 

“It’s been a work in progress,” Day said. “We’re not in the same class so our communication was mostly through text. I worked on all the hardware and physical components, and Will is working on all the user interface.”

Both students were challenging themselves to learn new systems, techniques and processes. “We couldn’t have done it on our own,” Rasmussen said. “We had the hardware done and the software done. Connecting the two was the hard thing.”

“It was a lot of puzzle piecing,” Day added. 

After developing a working prototype, they created a video of how it worked and used that as their entry for the Congressional App Challenge. In late December, they learned that they won. 

“I was in disbelief,” Rasmussen said. 

He texted the news to Day. “I didn’t believe him,” Day said. “I was like, ‘No way.’”

The winners from across the country are invited to showcase their apps before members of Congress and the tech community at #HouseOfCode, a reception on Capitol Hill held in April. Their work is eligible to be featured for one year on the permanent display in the U.S. Capitol Building and on the House.gov website. Each winning student will also receive $250 in Amazon web service credits.
Day and Rasmussen are still deciding whether they will attend the reception. In the meantime, they are perfecting their prototype. “We have a lot of work to do,” Day said.

“We want it to look nice and run smoothly,” Rasmussen said. “It works. We’re done, but we want to do a little more.”

They have created a circuit board and polishing the appearance of the mechanical device. Eventually, they hope to market the technology. 

Both Rasmussen and Day are preparing to head to college next year and plan to eventually pursue careers in computer science. 

Rasmussen already has thoughts about another project or two. 

“I have some other ideas, and I might want to get you to help,” Rasmussen told Day. 

“Yeah sure,” Day replied.