Encouraging women and people of color to shoot for the stars, Diamond Bar High School sophomore Andrea Yang’s self-made app, “Starfly”, was awarded winner of the U.S Congressional App Challenge. 

Based on an educational IOS app coded in a program called Swift, Starfly is designed for minority groups, specifically. The name, Starfly, is a play on words, with“Star” being the name of the mascot, and “fly” meaning to encourage or succeed. Since its primary focus is centered around astronomy, the star acts as the app’s mascot representative. 

Through this design, Yang aims for Starfly to help users “fly” like a star, targeting audiences such as young minority communities, ranging from ages 11 to 14. 

“I was glad and excited to use the opportunity to spread Starfly to more people,” Yang said. “I made the app to address the gender and race minority gap in astronomy and other STEM fields.”

Moreover, Starfly’s features include 21 lesson plans and modules in topics ranging from astronomy to biology. The app follows the educational path with an integrated chatbot that runs on OpenAI, as well as a tab regarding recent news from space stations like NASA.

“I first began creating the app in fall of 2023,” Yang said. “I began programming the prototype and creating the design with tools like Figma. The rest of the year was mostly reiterating the design and app flow according to pilot tests.” 

As users complete lessons, they are awarded coins after difficult lessons. Throughout the game, purchases and accessories can be made for customizing your avatar using these coins. 

Other than user profile customization, these coins can be used to purchase additional lessons. Enhancing Starfly with a social aspect of the game, users can collaborate and message other users to collaborate on projects together. 

“Using programming or coding, you can honestly make anything you set your mind to,” Yang said. “If you see a problem, you can probably make something to solve it.”