For the first time, K-12 educators and students across Tennessee are stepping up to the inaugural Presidential AI Challenge. With mentorship from artificial intelligence experts at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville and other universities across the state, Tennessee’s students and teachers could be the nation’s competition to beat.
First Lady Melania Trump launched the Presidential AI Challenge last fall, calling on K-12 youth, educators and their mentors to solve real community problems using AI-powered solutions. Students and teachers who participate have the chance to collaborate with AI experts, learn from industry leaders like Amazon and Microsoft and showcase their unique projects at a national level.
“I’ve seen firsthand the promise of this powerful technology. Now I pass the torch of innovation to you,” First Lady Trump said. “Just as America once led the world into the skies, we are poised to lead again. This time in the age of AI.”
The Volunteer State didn’t just accept the torch, but ran with it.
Inspiring People-Powered Teamwork
Dr. Vasileios Maroulas, associate vice chancellor at UTK and director of AI Tennessee, said the competition was the perfect opportunity to unite Tennessee’s cutting-edge STEM resources and university leaders to empower K-12 education — and drive American AI innovation forward.
“We wanted to make sure that our teams, our young citizens, their parents and teachers, had the means to put competitive proposals forward,” Maroulas said. “Tennessee has the talent, we have the experts across our universities and we have the natural resources for artificial intelligence.”
After learning about the national challenge, Maroulas and his team at AI Tennessee set out to assemble teams of mentors with AI and education expertise. AI Tennessee funded two teams led by UT faculty at the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences in partnership with the University of Memphis, Middle Tennessee State University and Fisk University. UT’s Center for Enhancing Education in Mathematics and Sciences also supported the initiative.
Together, Tennessee’s leading AI and education experts provided the support students and teachers needed to build custom AI solutions for the Presidential AI Challenge — and bring their imaginations to life.
“No university, no industry, no government can propel AI innovation on their own,” Maroulas said. “We all need each other, and we are using this initiative from the White House as a driver to showcase that collaboration.”
Turning Bold Ideas Into Possibility
Students and educators who compete in the challenge can enter at the state, regional and national levels to win up to $10,000 and showcase their projects at a White House finalist event.
The best way to win? Remember no idea is too big.
From designing AI lost-and-founds to drone crossing guards or tools that predict local food pantry needs, the challenge welcomed anyone who wants to build a better world. UT STEM education experts Dr. Yukyeong Song and Dr. Joshua Rosenberg led the Tennessee teams turning bold ideas into AI reality.
Song, an assistant professor in UT’s Theory and Practice of Teacher Education, met with teachers each week to brainstorm ways AI can address classroom challenges and to guide their solution development. With her help, middle and high school teachers from Harriman created a generative AI-powered middle school mathematics game based on Tennessee learning standards.
“We started from the design thinking process. We empathized with different types of learners and thought about their personas,” Song explained. “My teachers came up with a student persona called Maddie, who’s very creative and loves drawing, music and reading, but she’s not a big fan of math and science.”
The story-based, AI-powered math game was built to engage real students like Maddie who might struggle with math education but have other strengths. Beyond building impactful AI solutions, Song said the Presidential AI Challenge is an ideal opportunity for educator professional development and creativity.
“This is a competition, but what’s more important is the process. Just participating helps teachers learn about AI and encourages them to use those tools,” she added.
At Alcoa City Schools, 34 elementary students worked together to submit seven AI-powered projects. With the help of their teachers and UT Assistant Professor Dr. Emily Holtz, the eager inventors created tools to minimize litter, increase book access across the community, overcome elder care challenges and more.
Holtz couldn’t believe how many students showed up ready to participate with fresh ideas.
“Alcoa is a very tight-knit community, and I think parents found a lot of value in their children getting to think about, and then come up, with a solution to a community need,” Holtz said. “Given the expertise UT’s team of educational researchers brought surrounding AI, there was a level of trust that we would ensure students engaged with AI ethically.”
Meanwhile, Rosenberg, a Haslam Family professor and associate professor of STEM education, mentored Knoxville’s L&N STEM Academy as they developed an AI solution to identify resource gaps during natural disasters. He also connected AI Tennessee’s partner universities with up-to-date AI resources to help students and teachers succeed.
Rosenberg believes to build an AI-ready nation, our teachers need — and deserve — the training to lead the way.
“We often assume educators will adopt AI as ambitiously and creatively as people in business or engineering, without the same support,” Rosenberg said. “AI Tennessee is changing that by empowering teams across the state with the expertise and resources to lead in this emerging field.”
Across the state, Memphis University High, Black Fox Elementary School, Murfreesboro City Schools, Nashville School of the Arts, Metro Nashville Public Schools and Whites Creek High School also submitted projects to the national challenge.
Everybody Wins
For students and teachers, curiosity about AI has already taken hold. More than half of K-12 teachers use AI tools for lesson planning, administrative tasks and assignment creation. The number of K-12 students who discovered AI between 2023 and 2024 more than doubled.
“AI is everywhere,” said Anne Ho, AI Tennessee’s director of AI research and development. “We can’t predict what the world will look like once our youth graduate and join the workforce, but it is our responsibility now as universities and as educators to make sure they’re equipped with the skills for whatever that future looks like.”
But this is only the beginning of AI-powered education in the U.S.
Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE), a U.S. Department of Energy asset focused on strengthening the nation’s scientific research, STEM workforce and more, is partnering with the White House AI Education Task Force to facilitate the challenge on a national level. ORISE Director Dr. Keri Cagle said she’s eager to provide this competition to all American students and teachers from kindergarten to 12th grade as a way to demystify AI and motivate the next generation of science and technology leaders.
“The challenge’s participants will undoubtedly inspire us with their ingenuity and clever ways to solve real-world problems in their communities as they discover new frontiers in AI,” Cagle said.
With the future in mind, Tennessee’s mentors and challenge participants are already considering how AI can make a lasting impact on education after the competition is over.
“We’re very excited to see what recommendations for AI curriculum they’re going to introduce to our schools that will help teachers and students everywhere in the long run,” Ho said.
Maroulas believes partnerships like AI Tennessee will ignite America’s AI future. As students adapt to powerful new technologies, educators across K-12 and higher education must come together to guide them, helping future leaders become thoughtful digital citizens who move the nation forward.
“The vision is for artificial intelligence to empower education quietly and efficiently, the same way electricity powers the classroom,” Maroulas said. “But we all need each other to make this happen.”