National STEM Festival Winner – Liam C

We are absolutely thrilled to share that one of our students, Liam Chattergy, a junior from Hawaii, has been named a 2025 National STEM Champion and has also received the prestigious Congressional Innovation Award by the National STEM Festival!

Only four students from Hawaii were selected as STEM Finalists, and just two—including Liam—were named STEM Champions. As part of this honor, Liam was invited to Washington, D.C. to present his project and take part in the National STEM Festival with all expenses paid. His project, Natura Defender, was also among just a select few recognized with the Congressional Innovation Award, the most special honor presented by the National STEM Festival. 

Liam began his coding journey in 5th grade and has been learning with Create & Learn since 2021. Over the past four years, he’s completed a variety of courses, including Introduction to Python, Mobile App Development, Cloud Computing, AI Creators, and more. We are very excited to see his growth over the years and ultimately winning these awards. What a wonderful milestone!

We asked Liam to share a bit about his experience and the inspiration behind his projects. We hope his journey will inspire many others to use their computer science skills to help their communities. 

Here is a brief write up from Liam. 

I participated in the 2022 and 2024 Congressional App Challenge and adapted my project into my National STEM Festival submission. My app was called Natura Defender. It is a video game created to incentivize and test if human behavior can be modified for more sustainable interactions with the environment. It focused on situations in Hawaii, such as swimming sea turtles or beached monk seals.

The application for the National STEM Festival was relatively straightfoward. Although my game was not required to be submitted, I had to write explanations and explain the purpose of my work in Round 1 and a video explanation in Round 2. As a selected 2025 National STEM Festival Champion, I received an all-expenses-paid flight and hotel in Washington, DC. I attended mentor sessions and panel discussions and presented my work at the National STEM Festival. I met so many wonderful friends with such unique and extraordinary projects. One of my friends created technology to help robots detect pressure on human skin to help robots take care of our elderly. The National STEM Festival introduced me to a whole new world of innovation and people with similar interests to me.

Congratulations again, Liam! We’re so proud of your accomplishments and your passion for the community.

To all of our students. The 2025 Congressional App Challenge is now open! Get ready for it early and see how we can help you prepare for the Congressional App Challenge. We will be announcing more details about our Code for Nature Challenge this year soon as well, so be sure to sign up for our newsletter and stay tuned for updates.