Concord student Sean Donelan wins County’s Congressional App Challenge
CONCORD, CA—Northgate High School freshman Sean Hyun Donelan developed interests in coding and ham radio at a young age and used his talent in each to develop the winning entry in the 2020 Congressional App Challenge for the 11th District of Congressman Mark DeSaulnier.
Donelan discovered this nationwide contest last year when he read about a student from nearby Las Lomas High winning the 2019 competition. The Concord resident was then in eighth grade at Foothill Middle School and sought out details on entering the 2020 contest.
He registered and got the details on how to enter and set about designing and developing an app that replaces amateur radio operators’ large, unwieldy equipment and automates their more basic tasks. “NetHam: The Public Service Event Coordinator’s Third Hand” app is meant to allow operators to more easily serve as long-range communicators for public events.
A practical need
As to the practical need for such an app, the freshman said, “I experienced firsthand the complexity and convoluted ways of running an amateur radio net at local public service events, such as the Walnut Festival Twilight Parade, Mt Diablo Challenge Bike Ride and Diablo Summit Stomp. To remove some of the tediousness of our ham radio volunteer’s tasks at these events, I created this app.”
“Every app submitted in this year’s competition was innovative and inspiring, and I am proud of the great STEM skills shown by every entry,” said Concord Democratic DeSaulnier. “I congratulate Sean on the design of a creative and useful app that would benefit the amateur radio community and look forward to seeing “NetHam” represent the many talents of Contra Costa County’s students when on display in the United States Capitol.”
DeSaulnier was on—what else in 2020-21—a Zoom call reception last month to congratulate Donelan and his parents. The winner is going to release the code and schematic for NetHam so other amateurs can build the app.
Early code school
Donelan says his interest in coding “slowly developed” after he took a class as an eight-year-old at Hackingtons Code School. He has since attended similar camps, read lots of articles online and viewed YouTube videos. He says his progress has been one of “trial and error.”
“My grandfather was a ham radio guy,” Donelan said and he picked up the hobby as a preteen. He got his FCC transmission license when he was in sixth grade and enjoys talking to ham radio enthusiasts of all ages around the Bay Area. His call sign is KM6NGN.
Although his first year at Northgate has all been through distance learning, Donelan is keeping busy away from classroom work over the internet by taking part in journalism, CSF, Hack Club and Robotics Club. He is also training for the Broncos cross country and track teams which he is hoping to start official seasons shortly.
In the District 11 contest, second place was awarded to teammates Amrita Malhotra, Sydney Zhang, Cathy Kenderski, and Olivia House and third place went to Aarav Wattal.
Congressional App Challenge
The CAC is a public initiative to encourage young people to learn how to code in an effort to inspire creativity and encourage interest in STEM education. Established in 2014, the CAC has now reached over 30,000 students across the country, including those in underserved and rural areas. DeSaulnier has hosted the CAC for the 11th District since the inception of the program.
Over 6,500 students registered for the 2020 Congressional App Challenge. These students created and submitted 3,088 functioning apps, marking the end of an extremely successful Congressional App Challenge amid the COVID-19 pandemic. All told, 308 Members of Congress hosted Congressional App Challenges in their districts across 49 states, Puerto Rico, the Mariana Islands and Washington, DC.
For more information on the contest visit congressionalappchallenge.us.