Kean Announces 2025 Congressional App Challenge Winners

(December 17, 2025) LEBANON BOROUGH, NJ - Today, Congressman Tom Kean, Jr. (NJ-07) announced the winners of the 2025 Congressional App Challenge for New Jersey's Seventh Congressional District. The winning team, Maxwell Brohm of Califon and Zander Leon of Kinnelon, are students at the Morris County School of Technology. Their winning app, ChronoIQ, is designed to enhance students' time management skills, promoting greater efficiency while minimizing stress and academic pressure.

The Congressional App Challenge (CAC) is a district-wide competition for middle and high school students that encourages coding and inspires student interest in computer science and other STEM fields. This year, the CAC received more than 4,600 applications nationwide and it has become the most prestigious competition in computer science for students, as well as the largest competition of its kind in the country.

"I am excited to announce Maxwell Brohm and Zander Leon as the winners of this year's Congressional App Challenge for New Jersey's 7th Congressional District," said Congressman Kean. "Today's students are balancing demanding academic schedules alongside extracurricular activities and personal commitments, and ChronoIQ offers a smart, practical solution to help them manage their time more effectively. Maxwell and Zander's app reflects the remarkable talent, creativity, and problem-solving skills we have in NJ-07. I would also like to commend every student who participated in this year's competition and thank the judges for their time and dedication."

Reflecting on what inspired their app, Brohm and Leon said, "Our inspiration for ChronoIQ came from our own struggles with time management. We both have struggled with procrastination, which causes a lot of stress during school and at home. Staying up late to finish assignments has even affected our health. That's why we created ChronoIQ, to help students stay organized, lower stress, and live healthier lives."

As winners of the 2025 Congressional App Challenge, the students are eligible for the following recognitions:

1. Their winning app featured in the U.S. Capitol Building
2. Display of their app on House.gov, which receives more than 10 million visitors annually
3. Invitation to attend the #HouseOfCode celebration in Spring 2026
4. Waived copyright registration application fees through the ARTS Act

All submissions for this year's Congressional App Challenge were judged by Mr. Vincent Panico, Mrs. Samantha Billig, and Mr. David Angradi. A former computer science professor at Raritan Valley Community College, Mr. Panico uses his tech background as a sales leader in the enterprise technology world and as Deputy Mayor of his hometown of Readington. Mrs. Billig, named in 2016 as the Hunterdon County Teacher of the Year, has been a Business Education Teacher at Hunterdon Central in Flemington for 18 years, where she teaches Entrepreneurship 1 and 2, as well as Digital Multimedia Design. A graduate of Rutgers University, Mr. Angradi leverages his more than 20 years of experience helping customers with their Digital Transformation initiatives as Field CTO with Presidio.

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