ROGERS — Caroline Gschwend combined her interests in technology and history into a mobile application earning first place in a regional competition.
Gschwend, 18, designed defendUS, a game in which users assume the identity of one of America’s Founding Fathers and shoot down enemies, all against the background of U.S. landmarks.
A panel of judges chose the application as the winner of U.S. Rep. Steve Womack’s Congressional App Challenge. There were 11 submissions from students across the 3rd District, which includes Benton and Washington counties.
The competition was open to all high school students in Womack’s district. The U.S. House of Representatives debuted the challenge in 2013 to promote student creativity and engagement in fields related to science, technology, engineering and math.
Gschwend and her family met Womack at his office in Rogers on Dec. 19, where he presented Gschwend a medallion and a certificate honoring her accomplishment.
“You’ve won a very noteworthy program here by winning this app challenge, and against some stiff competition,” Womack said.
DefendUS will be displayed at a kiosk in the U.S. Capitol visitor center.
G s c hwe n d a n d h e r parents, Carol and Craig Gschwend, have lived in Rogers about 18 months. Gschwend, a high school senior, has been homeschooled her entire life.
Gschwend attended a camp at Stanford University last summer to learn programming for Apple’s mobile operating system. One of the things she learned was to make a simple game.
“It was just a ship and s o m e m e te o rs co m i n g through, no different levels or anything added. So I went home and decided to try to make something a little more complicated,” Gschwend said.
She eventually came up with defendUS, putting people such as George Washington and John Adams in a fight against redcoats and other symbols of Great Britain.
“DefendUS is a game that explores American history in a fun and exciting way,” Gschwend said in a video she made about the application. “I built the game primarily for young students with a hard time picturing history as real or as something that is still relevant today.”
There are six levels in defendUS. Every level sports a different background, each of which is the landscape of a famed U.S. site. Users who defeat 76 enemies with lives remaining are congratulated for defending the U.S. colonies; otherwise they are prompted to restart the game.
Gschwend said she’s looking into making defendUS available to the public.
Jessica Boyd, executive director of Community Venture Foundation, was one of four judges for Womack’s Congressional App Challenge. Boyd praised Gschwend for using her technical skills to produce a practical game.
“There were a lot of great contenders, but Caroline’s app really shined and stood out among all of them as being the best. It really is amazing,” Boyd said.
Boyd said she’s gotten to know Gschwend from the time Gschwend has spent volunteering at coding workshops, helping teach girls to code.
“She’s a very talented and impressive young lady,” Boyd said.
Other judges were Jim Kane of Gemini Development and Jeff Amerine and Phyl Amerine of Start Up Junkie Consulting.
Gschwend will graduate in May. She intends to study computer science. She’s applied to 14 colleges, Carol Gschwend said.
“My mission is just to make the world a better place,” Caroline Gschwend said. “I think technology is the best way to do that.”