'Volunteen': James Caldwell HS Students Win Prize For Developing Phone App

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Two James Caldwell High School students recently earned second place in a highly competitive “Congressional App Challenge.”

The annual competition is organized in each of New Jersey’s U.S. congressional districts.

In the state’s 10th district, Lucy Sandor and Nina Deng captured the honor with their project, Volunteen – an app designed to connect local organizations in need of service with student volunteers. It also includes a mentoring component to support teens who are new to community service.

Both students are active community volunteers, and say they created the app after noticing that many teens want to get involved – but struggle to find accessible, meaningful opportunities.

The students developed their app last year with support from JCHS principal Jim Devlin and student council advisor, Juliana Dmytriv, who helped Sandor secure seed funding through the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) Student Service Award. Deng later joined the project, contributing experience from Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) and Key Club.

The teens were recognized at an award ceremony at the office of U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver (NJ-10), alongside other district winners.

The team said they hope to launch Volunteen on major app platforms this summer. They are looking to recruit student mentors and collaborators. Local organizations and interested students can contact njvolunteen@gmail.com for more information.

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