Students’ internship app for teens, iFind, chosen among 4,600 submissions nationwide
BLOOMINGTON, IN — Bloomington High School South seniors Jiping Liu and Jiin Hur have been named the 2025 Congressional App Challenge winners for Indiana’s 9th Congressional District for designing iFind – High School Internship Finder, an app to connect high school students with local internship opportunities. Liu and Hur’s app was chosen as a winner out of 4,600 app submissions from approximately 13,800 students across the country. They will travel to Washington, D.C. this month for an event at the U.S. Capitol to present iFind alongside other winners from across the country. Their app will be displayed in the U.S. Capitol Building for one year, featured on House.gov, and showcased on the Congressional App Challenge website.
Liu and Hur, who became friends in middle school speech and debate, decided to build the app together after seeing a competition flyer and brainstorming ideas with AP science teacher Dr. Kirstin Milks.
“Jiin and I were bouncing ideas off Dr. Milks and Jiin mentioned, ‘What if we make an internship finder?’ and Dr. Milks said there is a need in this community for that,” said Liu.
What makes iFind unique — and not a ‘LinkedIn 2.0’— is that it caters to teens with a hyper-local focus. The app connects local organizations with students interested in interning and gives students a place to document their experiences. Internship coordinators also have oversight, so students can compile a verified portfolio of skills gained through internships, to help build their resumes.
For Hur, the project is also about increasing internship access for students who don’t already have networks to lean on.
“My main interest is how can we inform youth, specifically teens and GenZ, on opportunities in our community which can help stimulate the labor market because I’m interested in labor relations,” said Hur. “My focus is helping teens understand labor laws, labor advocacy, etcetera. An app that centers around high school internships can help teens overcome logistical and income barriers.”
Under the ARTS Act, which waives copyright registration fees for Congressional App Challenge winners, Liu and Hur can use the copyright to iFind however they choose. They have chosen open distribution to make the iFind code open source, which will allow developers and communities to adapt the app to their own local needs.
Milks is proud of her students’ achievement and the process of learning along the way.
“With app development, oftentimes, students think it’s not worth starting if they can’t make something that’s perfect,” said Milks. “I love that Jiping and Jiin started with a prototype that didn’t do many of the things it does now and were able to refine it and iterate it, and I think that that confidence is what we’re looking for when young people exit high school and they’re moving on to the rest of their lives.”