Uchenna Uduma a junior at Egg Harbor Township High School, has been named the winner of the 2025 Congressional App Challenge for New Jersey’s Second Congressional District. He earned the recognition for a self-taught app designed to help veterans access neurological health resources and support.
The app, named BetterVeteran, offers tools aimed at early awareness and connection to care. Users can upload brain scan images and receive an easy-to-understand indicator highlighting potential risks associated with certain types of brain bleeds. It also features a PTSD self-assessment tool modeled after the structure of the PCL-5 questionnaire, allowing veterans to better gauge their symptoms and determine whether professional care may be needed.
Based on user results, the app can then direct veterans to nearby resources, including VA facilities, medical centers, shelters and other support services.
Uchenna said his grandfather, a military veteran who struggled to access care after his service, inspired the project. Although he was young at the time, Uchenna said his understanding of his grandfather’s struggles grew through family stories.
“I wanted to make a difference, make an impact when creating something,” he said.
Uchenna learned about the Congressional App Challenge in July 2025 through social media while searching for opportunities to apply his computer science skills.
That discovery led to months of independent learning and development, spending a majority of the summer teaching himself how to build an app from the ground up. Uchenna said the concept continued to take shape through late August as the school year began.
“To be honest, creating the app was a bit of a struggle, especially in the beginning and the end,” he said. “It’s my first time developing an app like this that other people use as well.”
According to Uchenna, he relied heavily on online resources to teach himself how to build the app from scratch.
“I watched a lot of videos on tutorials on how to make an app through Visual Studio code and a lot of Stack Overflow,” he said.
Once classes resumed, he worked on the project nearly every day after school — often late into the night after completing his homework — refining the model and improving its functionality
As the October deadline approached, Uchenna said technical challenges intensified.
“I would have a lot of issues with connecting the artificial intelligence model with the [User Interface] of the app,” he said, explaining that troubleshooting required “a bunch of trial and error.”
Uchenna said it “came down to the wire.” He submitted the app just minutes before the Oct. 31 12 a.m. deadline and learned he had won on Dec. 3.
“When I read ‘winner,’ and after some ‘congratulations,’ then I started jumping for joy,” Uchenna said.
His mother, Ugochi Uduma, was at the grocery store at the time and said she initially thought her son was joking when he shared the news over the phone.
“I thought he was pulling my leg,” she said. “So I told him, are you serious? Are you for real?”
Once she saw the confirmation email, her reaction was immediate. Ugochi said she screamed and rushed home to celebrate with her son.
She emphasized her pride in her son’s determination and said she encouraged him to get help with the more difficult aspects, but Uchenna always told her, “Mom, I’ll figure it out.”
“I’m proud of him, and I know that he knows that. He’s always been a very, very, very good kid, Ugochi said. “I know that there’s more ahead. I know his name is gonna be heard … So I hope he continues on that path, and I know that he will.”
In a Jan. 13 press release, Congressman Jeff Van Drew officially announced Uchenna as the district’s winner, praising both the app and its mission.
“This year’s winner is Uchenna Uduma, and I am incredibly proud of the work he did,” Van Drew said. He described Uchenna’s app as “an easy-to-use web app created to help veterans dealing with serious neurological challenges like PTSD and brain injuries.”
He added, “The competition was strong, and we saw a lot of impressive ideas from students across South Jersey. Choosing a winner was not easy, and everyone who took part should be proud of the effort they put in. Congratulations to Uchenna, and I look forward to seeing what he accomplishes next.”
One day, Uchenna hopes to expand on the app and create advanced technology for neurological use.
Julia graduated from Rider University in 2024 with a BA in multiplatform journalism and minor in social media strategies. In addition to reporting on local news for Shore Local, she is a social media strategist for small businesses. Connect with her: shorelocaljulia@gmail.com or @juliatrain on Instagram.
