Students at the Table: Co-designing AI Tools for Education

Amanda Bickerstaff

Amanda is the Founder and CEO of AI for Education. A former high school science teacher and EdTech executive with over 20 years of experience in the education sector, she has a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities that AI can offer. She is a frequent consultant, speaker, and writer on the topic of AI in education, leading workshops and professional learning across both K12 and Higher Ed. Amanda is committed to helping schools and teachers maximize their potential through the ethical and equitable adoption of AI.

Taylor Shead

Taylor Shead is the visionary founder and CEO of Stemuli, a Dallas-based gaming and AI company redefining how people learn and work. Under Taylor's leadership, Stemuli has been recognized as the United Nations Global Champion of AI for Good, honored by Forbes, Google, and the Gates Foundation, and partnered with Stride Learning (the largest U.S. online school) and LAUSD (the nation's second-largest district) to personalize learning for millions of students.

LonDyn Burrell

LonDyn is a visual, hands-on learner who values truly understanding math — not just getting answers. As a co-designer with Stemuli, she consistently pushed for AI tools to be more informative and to show their work, reflecting her deep desire to learn the process behind the problem. She naturally gravitates toward leadership and people-centered roles — describing herself as "the glue that sticks together" — and has taken on an engagement leader role motivating her peers in the League. Through Stemuli, LonDyn has developed a broader understanding of what AI can do, seeing its potential not just for her own learning but for helping people grow their businesses and careers. She holds the League to a high standard of values: honesty, inclusion, and never judging others.

Kennedy Davis

Kennedy brings a sharp, analytical mind and a storyteller's instinct to the co-design process. She's one of the most thoughtful voices in the room when it comes to how AI should interact with students — advocating for tools that help students build self-trust in their own problem-solving abilities rather than just handing them answers. Through the Founder's Tycoon game, Kennedy discovered how AI can be applied beyond academics, learning to use agents for business planning, pricing strategy, and customer segmentation. She says the experience taught her to write more specific, deliberate prompts, a skill she now carries into her everyday AI use. Kennedy felt genuinely comfortable learning with AI in a way she didn't with traditional settings — free from embarrassment or judgment — and credits the personalized approach with changing how she tackles overwhelming assignments.

Zavier Miramontes

Zavier approached the co-design process as a student genuinely wrestling with real math challenges — and found that AI met him where he was. He used Or[B] to tackle graphing inequalities, a topic he'd struggled with in class, and was impressed by how the tool broke concepts down into small, manageable steps. He appreciated how the AI didn't just solve one problem but gave him tips and reminders he could carry forward to work faster and more independently. Zavier also noted that interacting with the AI felt judgment-free, which made him more honest and open in his responses. In Founder's Tycoon, he was drawn to the story-driven gameplay, always intrigued by what would happen next, and valued the feedback Or[B] gave him on how to improve.

Noah Henson

Noah joined the Stemuli co-design program with a clear sense of direction — he collects over 100 PS3 games, has always loved gaming, and wants to become an AI engineer, with plans to earn his associate's degree by the time he graduates high school. That combination made him one of the program's most incisive design critics. Across sessions, Noah consistently pushed the team to prioritize core gameplay quality over surface-level retention mechanics, and brought sharp game design instincts to discussions about Founder Tycoon. He advocated for giving AI agents more autonomy, suggested milestone tracking to make business growth visible, and pushed for skippable tutorials so experienced players wouldn't hit walls of redundant text. His contributions reflected someone thinking not just as a player but as a future builder of these systems.

Rylan Gilbert

Rylan came into the Stemuli co-design program as someone who described himself as "not really a very social person," framing the experience as a way to better himself through connecting with others. Over the course of the program, he became an increasingly engaged voice — tracking Or[B]'s dialogue improvements across builds, noting when building mechanics unlocked meaningful progression, and comparing Founder Tycoon's comfort curve to older games like Terraria and Minecraft. Rylan saw Stemuli filling a real gap at his school after their esports program was discontinued, and he began spreading the word organically — telling peers and teachers about the AI components and reporting genuine excitement back from his school community. His arc through the program reflects how co-design can serve students beyond product feedback, offering connection, purpose, and a reason to show up.

Saniya Davis

Saniya brought a perspective shaped by limited access — she repeatedly noted that opportunities like Stemuli simply don't come through her school. That awareness made her one of the program's most grounded voices on why co-design matters. Saniya connected the game's lore directly to her own experience of being chosen to help build something bigger, and she spoke openly about how her investment in Founder Tycoon grew over time as the team actually listened to student feedback. She became an active promoter at her school, identifying specific teachers and classes where the game could be integrated. Perhaps the most telling sign of the program's impact: playing Founder Tycoon shifted Saniya's college plans from ultrasound tech toward a business and entrepreneurship major.