Learning a new language is always a challenge, especially when it has little to no linguistic kinship to one's native language. That was the case for North Haven High School (NHHS) junior Emily Cerasoli when trying to learn Mandarin Chinese, whose dialect uses a completely different written system from English or its Germanic and Romantic cousins. She eventually developed her own way and was lauded for her creation.

Emily was recognized as the winner of the 2023 Congressional App Challenge for Connecticut's 3rd Congressional District. U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro, (D, D3) visited NHHS on Dec. 19 to formally announce Emily as the challenge winner for creating the Mandarin Made Easy app.

The Congressional App Challenge began in 2013 and has grown to become the most prestigious prize for middle and high school students nationwide to demonstrate their computer science proficiency.

Emily says she was surprised but also "happy and excited" to learn about her winning the challenge.

Standing next to Rep. DeLauro, Emily says, "I thought it was a really cool experience because there are so many people who came, like my classmates, the superintendent, [and] some of our state [officials]. I really thought it was cool that they all showed up."

The creation of Mandarin Made Easy was born out of difficulties Emily said she was facing when trying to learn how to write and speak the Chinese dialect in and outside of the classroom. She encountered this with assignments at school or in a digital setting.

"Language learning apps have a set curriculum which limits the user from practicing words from their choosing. In class, I had no way to practice the specific terms that my teacher was assigning at the time. Also, when I practiced writing the characters, I would use so many pieces of paper. I thought that it was a waste and wondered if I could practice digitally. I looked for an app, but I had no luck. All the quizzing apps that I found had no way to practice writing Mandarin characters and no way to insert tones for the Pinyin," says Emily. "I decided that I could create my own app, which would have all the features I was looking for."

Emily already had the software background to develop the app from an AP Computer Science Principles class she took last year, learning how to use an app called MIT App Inventor. In her current year as a junior, she took it a step further.

"With this app, I signed up for a private study with my teacher [Daniel Hughes] this year," she says.

Emily learned through the MIT App Inventor platform to code and create various projects with it, including her recognized app. She recognizes her teacher for his support along the way.

"I think Mr. Hughes's support really helped because if I had a question about the coding, he would be able to come over and help. Definitely taking that class before helped me with creating the app," she says.

Emily says she is considering a career in tech and is thinking of getting involved in either the software or hardware side of the field.

While Emily is awaiting a patent as a prize for her creation, she is also looking to release Mandarin Made Easy into the Google Play app market. This means that the app is currently available only for Android phones and not Apple phones with iOS due to a difference in coding languages between the software.

"My plan is to get it on iOS, so I'll probably have to learn a different coding language for that so it's compatible for iOS or try and do something to maneuver that," she said.