Local Spotlight: Maxwell House

Biddeford teenager Maxwell House was recently named the first-place winner of the 2026 Maine App Challenge and was the recipient of a $6,000 scholarship and an internship opportunity at Tyler Technologies.

Hosted by Tyler Technologies in partnership with the University of Maine, the annual Maine App Challenge invites students across the state to design and develop original mobile applications, blending creativity with real-world technical skills. This year’s competition featured a record 151 submissions.

“I’ve always been around computers my whole life. Both of my parents are in the tech field, so it’s just kind of what I’ve grown up with. But that’s not to say I don’t love it,” said House.

House, 17, is a Biddeford High School junior and is studying Computer Technology at Biddeford Regional Center of Technology. His winning app was “Run Up,” a game he created to make using a treadmill more engaging.

“Using a treadmill is pretty boring…. And that can turn people away from a treadmill or fitness in general. The whole idea was to make it more accessible and fun,” said House.

Run Up is an endless runner game. The player is constantly running and dodging obstacles, similar to Temple Run or Subway Surfers. What distinguishes Run Up from other games is that it interacts with a treadmill session through a Bluetooth controller that House created with collaboration from BRCOT Engineering and Architectural Design student Andrew Pelletier, who made the case using a 3D printer.

“You put your phone on the little shelf that almost all treadmills have, and my controller detects if you’re moving or not,” said House. “If you stop moving, a little message will pop up saying, ‘You’re not moving, your run will end in 5… 4… 3… 2…1 (seconds).’ If you wait that out, it will take you to the high score screen if you got a high sore, or it will take you to the main menu.”

While most students in the competition created their app with the user-friendly program code.org, House used both Unity and Arduino.

House got the idea for Run Up because he had tried to purchase something similar when he was 10-years-old, but couldn’t find anything like it available.

“I really enjoy fitness, and when I was younger, I wanted something like this, and it didn’t exist, which was really disappointing,” he said.

He’s thinking of redeveloping and upgrading the app and submitting it to the contest again next year. He’d also like to possibly someday market and sell Run Up, but the process seems intimidating. But, he said, he had similar feelings when he decided to compete in the app contest.

“This whole project was intimidating. It’s okay to be fearful, but it’s good to fight it and keep pushing through it. I think that’s where real growth happens. You can achieve great things if you persevere,” he said.

There were some people who doubted him, and thought his goal was too ambitious.

“You’ve got to shoot for the stars,” he said. “If I went for something less impressive, I might not have won. You’ve got to take some risks.”

House lives on a farm. He enjoys taking care of the family’s chickens, goats, horses, and pigs and is especially looking forward to raising newly acquired baby ducks.

“I love animals with my whole heart,” he said.

And yes, he gets asked about his name a lot. Maxwell House is a family name, he said, and predates the coffee company.

Saco Bay News Publisher Liz Gotthelf can be reached at newsdesk@sacobaynews.com.