Generative AI for High School Innovators

I’m pleased to announce the Center for Future Work Places and Practices (CFWPP) will be running a new two-week course this summer for high school students, entitled “From Data to Generative AI: A Journey through Machine Learning.”

This course is designed for students in Grades 9–12. No prior experience in coding or artificial intelligence is required—just bring your curiosity and enthusiasm.

Win a Scholarship! Essay Contest for VA Students

Virginia high school students in grades 9-11 are invited to participate in an essay contest exploring AI’s future!

Theme: How AI is shaping society, education, work, or ethics
Length: 800-1,000 words
Prize: Five (5) winners will receive a full scholarship to this summer school!
Deadline: June 20, 2025
Award Notification: June 30, 2025
Submit: Essay + CV to vtcfwpp@gmail.com

What Student Will Learn

Understand how generative AI works – from neural networks to transformers like GPT and DALL·E.
Create content with AI tools – use platforms like ChatGPT, Midjourney, and Llama to write stories, design graphics, and generate music.
Analyze ethical and social implications – explore bias, misinformation, creativity, authorship, and responsible AI use.
Develop your own AI mini-project – pitch and present a creative application of generative AI to solve a real-world problem or express a unique idea.
Build foundational knowledge in machine learning concepts like training data, model outputs, and prompt engineering.

Agenda/Schedule (July, 2025)

Week 1: Foundations of Machine Learning and AI
Session 1: Introduction to AI and Machine Learning
Session 2: How Machines Learn
Session 3: Data in Machine Learning
Session 4: Machine Learning with AWS
Session 5: Building Our First ML Model

Week 2: Generative AI and more
Session 6: Introduction to Generative AI
Session 7: Neural Networks and Deep Learning
Session 8: Natural Language Processing (NLP)
Session 9: Ethics and Societal Impact of AI
Session 10: Capstone Project and Showcase

Prerequisites: Curious, open to learning, comfortable with basic use of computers.

Tuition Fees: In-State: $400, Out-of-State: $1000

MLK50 and the 2018 BCI Essay Contest

At around 6pm today, it will be 50 years since the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It will also mark the end of the 2018 Beloved Community Initiative (BCI) Essay Contest. To thank the students of Virginia for participating in the essay contest, Dr. Virgil A. Wood (who worked with Dr. King, Jr. and his father), Dr. Sylvester Johnson (Professor and Director of the Center for the Humanities, Virginia Tech), and Dr. Corey Walker (Vice President, Dean and Professor of Religion and Society, Virginia Union University) held a webinar this morning – as part of the MLK Jubilee Summit – in which they explored the legacy of Dr. King, Jr. and provided their thoughts on what this legacy means for the students of today. A recording of this webinar is provided below.

The essay contest (described in the video below) was designed to provide junior and senior students at high schools across Virginia with the opportunity to explore exemplars of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s notion of the Beloved Community – a community based on social and economic justice and a common love for fellow human beings. Dr. King, Jr. often thundered “The moral arc of the universe is long but it bends toward justice,” quoting American Bards of generations gone. Dr. Wood’s life-long search for the elusive promised land of the American Dream led to the realization that at every point where the moral arc did bend, even ever so slightly, there stood a pair, or in some cases triplets, of Black and White ancestors of the Beloved Community. Sometimes these ancestors were not contemporaries, but they can be linked by the spirit they exemplified. Through their essays, students were challenged to explore the connections between these ancestors and to consider how they helped advance the notion of the Beloved Community. In the coming weeks, a review panel will select four winning essays that will be showcased at an event this fall.

Dr. Walker to Speak on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Politics of Freedom

On Tuesday, January 16 at 2:30pm, Dr. Corey Walker (Vice President, Dean, and Professor of Religion and Society at Virginia Union University) will be giving a public lecture entitled The Sovereignty of the Imagination: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Politics of Freedom, at the Biocomplexity Institute Auditorium at Virginia Tech.

Dr. Corey’s lecture is the first official event of Virginia Tech’s 2018 MLK Week. Dr. Corey is a core member of the VT-VUU team behind the 2018 Beloved Community Initiative Essay Contest (see the video below). This contest provides junior and senior students at high schools across Virginia with the opportunity to explore exemplars of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s notion of the Beloved Community – a community based on social and economic justice and a common love for fellow human beings. The essay submissions are due by 6pm on April 4, 2018.