What happens when you put 51 high school students in a room with laptops, AI tools, and a challenge to build something real? On February 8, 2026, we found out. Purple Horizons partnered with Palmer Trinity School in Miami to run our signature AI Buildathon, and the results blew us away.
The Setup
The event brought together students in grades 8 through 12 from Palmer Trinity School, alongside teams from Ransom Everglades and Gulliver Schools. The premise was simple: real problems, real tools, one day to build something that works.
The challenges weren't hypothetical. They were submitted by parents, alumni, and community partners — including Zoo Miami and the Deering Estate. Students weren't building demo projects. They were solving actual problems for organizations that actually care about the solutions.
The Tools: Gemini, Lovable, and Gamma
We built the day around three AI tools students could pick up quickly and use to produce real output:
- Gemini for research, drafting, and intelligent analysis
- Lovable for building functional web apps without writing code from scratch
- Gamma for rapid presentations and stakeholder-ready decks
By the end of the day, teams had working prototypes — not wireframes, not pitch decks, not PowerPoints. Functional tools.
How It Ran
Teams stepped into the role of real-world problem solvers. Each group received a brief from their partner organization — Zoo Miami wanted tools to improve visitor engagement and education; the Deering Estate had its own set of operational and community challenges.
Students collaborated, debated, built, iterated, and presented. Faculty member Ivan Rico and the Purple Horizons team moved through the room coaching on AI tools and helping teams push past the inevitable stuck moments.
The event concluded with final presentations to a panel of judges composed of parents, board members, and community leaders. One team was selected as the winner for their creativity and problem-solving approach.
We Built Badge Kit the Same Day
Here's the meta part: while students were building, so were we.
We needed a way to give every participant a verifiable digital credential — something they could actually put on a LinkedIn profile or portfolio, not just a PDF certificate. The existing badge platforms were either too expensive, too clunky, or too locked down.
So we built Badge Kit (badge.purplehorizons.io) during the event itself. By the time students finished presenting, every student who checked in received a verified digital badge issued on the OpenBadges 3.0 standard.
That's the whole point of a buildathon. You don't just talk about building. You build.
What the School Said
"Through hands-on exploration with AI, our students are learning to become ethical, creative and forward-thinking innovators," said Patrick Roberts, Head of School at Palmer Trinity. "The Build-a-thon gives students a dynamic opportunity to create, collaborate and see the power of AI as a tool for solving real-world challenges."
What We Learned
A few things stood out from the day:
- Students don't need to be convinced AI is useful. They need a structured challenge and the right tools. Once they have both, they move fast.
- The best projects came from teams that stopped trying to build everything and focused on solving one specific problem well.
- Real stakes matter. Working on a brief from Zoo Miami hits differently than a made-up case study.
- Age is not a limiting factor. Some of the most creative solutions came from 8th graders who had never written a line of code.
Want to Run One for Your School or Organization?
We run AI Buildathons for schools, companies, and organizations. If you want to see what your team can build in a day, learn more about our Buildathon offering or reach out directly.
📰 In the Press
CityBiz covered the event:
