Teaching the Next Generation to Build with AI
On the ten-week online AI Engineering Fellowship for 7th–12th graders — AI fluency, cybersecurity, cloud & data foundations, and data analytics, taught by instructors from around the world.
A Q&A with Amos Tarfa, Founder & CEO of LIFE — the Learning Institute for Excellence.
Q1. Let’s start with the why. What gap did you see for 7th-to-12th graders that made you build a 10-week AI Engineering Fellowship — and why is this the right moment to teach teenagers AI, rather than waiting until university?
The world is moving at an extraordinary pace, and too many students are watching the AI revolution happen instead of taking part in it. A revolution like this does not come along often. Our goal is to answer a problem schools have not kept up with — and part of the reason they haven’t is that the modern education system was built during the Industrial Revolution. We have reached the point where we need a new education infrastructure, one built for the AI revolution.
The days of waiting until university to make an impact are over. With the right tools, a sixteen-year-old can now run a company that would once have required a corporation. That is why we are not waiting. We are putting these tools in students’ hands now — and, just as importantly, we are teaching them the wisdom to use them well. Young people will need a great deal of wisdom to navigate the times they are living in, so our program pairs technical skill with mentorship and character. They will need all three to truly thrive.
Q2. The fellowship covers four areas — AI fluency, cybersecurity, cloud and data foundations, and data analytics. Why these four, and how do they fit together into one coherent journey rather than four separate subjects?
We brought these four together because that is how the work actually flows. Building an AI model begins with data, so students first have to understand data deeply; that understanding is then built into the AI systems themselves. Once you build an AI system or a website, you have to ask whether it is secure — which is where cybersecurity comes in, to help you check your work and protect it. And all of it — the data, the models, the systems — lives on the cloud.
So these are not four separate subjects; they are four parts of one workflow. We want students to learn the lesson that defines this era: in the AI revolution, consolidation and comprehensive frameworks win, not disjointed, fragmented facts. By teaching the four together, we are not only telling students about the AI revolution — we are showing them how the pieces connect, which is how you actually thrive in it.
Q3. Teaching cloud computing and data analytics to a 7th grader is very different from teaching a 12th grader. How is the curriculum designed to be accessible to a 12-year-old beginner while still challenging a 17-year-old who may already code?
We are living at a time when grade levels no longer mean very much. A seventh grader may know how to code better than a twelfth grader. So instead of organizing the program around grade, we organize it around mastery and around clear pathways: here is the road from the basics to the advanced, and here is where you currently stand on it.
During our live class meetings we focus on collaboration, but students are always welcome to go deeper on their own, and we show them exactly how. That design is what lets a twelve-year-old beginner and a seventeen-year-old who already codes sit in the same cohort — each one advances from wherever they are. If you have not yet mastered the fundamentals of Python, your grade level will not save you; you will struggle to do certain things with AI. If you have mastered them, you will be fine, and a focused seventh or ninth grader may well move faster than an older student who has not. We are using this program to demonstrate what twenty-first-century education should look like: built on mastery, not on age.
Q4. “AI fluency” can mean many things. What will a student who finishes your fellowship understand about AI that the average teenager doesn’t — and how do you teach responsible, safe and ethical use alongside the technical skills?
As the saying goes, the cat is already out of the bag. Most teenagers have already seen or used AI tools — basic prompting, and in some cases even agentic AI. The question is no longer whether they use it, but whether they understand it. A student who finishes our fellowship will be able to answer the things the average teenager cannot: how AI actually works, why it works as well as it does, the framework used to design these models, what its limitations are, what its benefits and its risks are, and which uses are safe and which are not.
We teach responsible use directly alongside the technical skills. For example, students should not be forming relationships with chatbots — that is genuinely unhealthy, and we are already seeing real mental-health consequences when young people feel they are talking to a human being when they are not. Beyond the cautions, graduates will understand some of the mathematics behind AI; they will be able to launch, troubleshoot, and improve websites; build apps and basic database structures; understand why cybersecurity matters; teach others about AI; and grasp where AI research is heading. And they will have mentorship from working experts in AI and data science along the way.
Q5. You’ve assembled instructors from around the world. What does that global faculty give a student that a local programme can’t — and how do you make a cohort spread across time zones feel like one connected class over ten weeks?
Our instructors are based around the world — in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Singapore, India, Nigeria, and Angola. That global faculty gives students something a single local program cannot: a genuinely world-class education and a window into how this work is done in different parts of the world. Our aim is for this to become a standard that other countries can adopt as well.
We hold the cohort together across time zones in a practical way. Much of the material is online, so a student who cannot make a particular live session can watch the lecture and still take part in the discussion boards. We schedule to accommodate different time zones as best we can. Most of our current students are in America, but anyone, anywhere in the world, is welcome to join us.
Q6. Ten weeks is short. By the end, what can a fellow actually build or do — a real project, a portfolio piece, a certification? Walk us through what graduation looks like in terms of tangible skills.
In the AI revolution, ten weeks is like ten years. Work that used to take forty weeks can now be prompted in under a minute, and structures that once took weeks to build can be assembled in hours while the AI agents work and you get on with your day.
So by the end, our fellows will be able to do real things: design websites and apps, and even collect payments through a site. For older students who are ready to start a business legally, we will follow the proper legal frameworks and work with parents who want to take part in setting it up. Every student — even a seventh grader — will leave with a business plan, because everyone in our program learns how to start and run a business, how marketing works, how sales work, and the basics of economics and token economics. The reason is simple: the future will be built by entrepreneurs. The era of “graduate and get a job” is giving way to “go make a job happen.”
Graduates can add the fellowship to a résumé and a college application as evidence that they are AI-fluent — and the most driven of them can begin earning, at eighteen, more than many college graduates do. Ten weeks is more than enough time to move quickly for students who are dedicated and focused, and our support continues year-round, including introductions to mentors, because the AI revolution is only getting started.
Q7. Of the four tracks, cybersecurity feels especially urgent for young people. What are the most important things this generation needs to learn to protect themselves online — and are you also opening their eyes to cybersecurity as a career?
Cybersecurity is crucial, and I am genuinely concerned about it, because agentic AI systems can be used for good and, unfortunately, for harm. So this track matters a great deal.
We want students to learn safe practices and to be able to pass them on — including teaching their parents and grandparents to be careful, especially as deepfakes grow more convincing in the AI era. We also open their eyes to cybersecurity as a career: one of our experts is a working cybersecurity consultant, and he will speak directly to the students about the field and about the urgency of this moment.
Q8. Many brilliant young people are locked out by cost, devices, or internet access. How are you tackling that divide — are there scholarships, and what does a family realistically need for their child to take part?
We have worked hard to keep the barrier to entry low. Most of our current students are in America, where they have internet access at home or can use a public library to watch the lectures and email us their questions. Realistically, all a student needs to take part is a working smartphone that can connect to Zoom. A laptop helps, but it is not required; for a family that wants one, a basic second-hand computer or Chromebook is usually enough.
We know that cost and access lock out many brilliant young people, and we take that seriously — any family facing real hardship is welcome to reach out to us directly so we can talk through their options. Looking ahead, we plan to expand support for students in other countries through partnerships with computer companies such as Dell, so that devices and connectivity become less and less of an obstacle in the years to come.
Q9. Speak directly to a parent who is unsure whether this is worth their child’s time. What will their son or daughter walk away with after ten weeks — and how do you keep it rigorous yet engaging for a teenager?
Let me speak plainly, and kindly. If your child’s only preparation right now is a traditional school, and you are trusting that to carry them into the future, I want to gently tell you that it will not be enough on its own. The current system was not built for what is coming. Every child — and every family — now needs a plan that goes beyond what any single school provides.
Here is why. In a growing number of industries, employers will not even consider a candidate who is not AI-fluent. The yardstick of success is shifting from the diploma to AI fluency itself. Not knowing how to use AI is becoming like showing up to work with a typewriter — and no one is hiring for typewriters. This is not really about getting a job in AI; it is that AI is now needed to do almost any job well. Doctors need it, engineers need it, researchers use it, and college-admissions offices are already using it to review applications. Those who use it well will make real gains and transform whatever field they enter.
So my advice is this: your child’s school is not equipped to get them where they need to go, and that is not the school’s fault. You need to find a place that can — ours, or another if ours is not the right fit — and I would encourage you to do it now, before your child misses opportunities that are opening up today. After ten weeks with us, your son or daughter will not only understand AI; they will be able to build with it, and they will have the mentorship and direction to keep going.
Q10. Look ahead for us. If this fellowship works exactly as you hope, what does it do for these young people — and for Africa’s and the world’s talent pipeline — five or ten years from now? What legacy are you building?
Ten years from now, I would like to be able to say that this fellowship helped raise top CEOs, helped build frontier AI labs, helped transform technology — and helped double or even triple the GDP of Africa. The AI revolution is in full swing, and yet much of Africa is being locked out of its opportunities. What we want to do is create the conditions for young people to flourish, using technology as a platform for human flourishing.
If this works as I hope, we will see real problems solved: electricity, clean water, healthcare. I am deliberately using a framework that sits apart from the usual political one. Consider this: very few technology companies are wealthier than the entire continent of Africa — a fact that is as troubling as it is interesting. What would change if companies of that scale were founded and led by people from Nigeria, Ghana, or Kenya? I believe there is another path to development worth exploring — one built on deploying AI to solve practical problems, through research carried out with AI and through agentic AI workflows designed for real-world needs. The legacy I am building is a generation equipped to take that path.
Programme details, dates & how to apply
Programme: Online AI Engineering Fellowship, presented by LIFE (Learning Institute for Excellence) with Amos “the Math Guy” Tarfa
Format: A ten-week live program on Zoom — 20 sessions across 10 weeks, covering 7 tracks: AI fluency, cybersecurity, cloud & data foundations, data analytics & science, business & entrepreneurship, career preparation, and mentorship
Open to: Students in grades 7–12, worldwide
Dates: June 15 – August 22, 2026 · Classes on Mondays and Thursdays
Faculty: Instructors from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Singapore, India, Nigeria, and Angola
Founding-cohort investment: $1,297 (standard $1,497). Enroll by June 15, 2026. Seats are limited — the founding cohort is capped at 15 fellows
Reserve a seat: tinyurl.com/CountingToCalculus
Questions: WhatsApp or call +1 (612) 616-9899
Name & title: Amos Tarfa — Founder & CEO, LIFE (Learning Institute for Excellence)Date: June 8, 2026
