On Monday, one of the more ambitious—and personally meaningful—projects I've wor
By Melissa Burdick · July 16, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
On Monday, one of the more ambitious—and personally meaningful—projects I've worked on launches. It's something I've spent the last year thinking about, refining, and honestly obsessing over.
As a mom of two teenagers (one rising senior, one rising sophomore), I've spent more hours than I'd like to admit thinking about college admissions, and what they're going to do in our new world of AI.
Meanwhile, the workplace itself is changing faster than our schools can adapt. And I get it - schools are in an incredibly tough position with generative AI. They understandably don't want ChatGPT writing students' papers. But at the same time, AI fluency is rapidly becoming as fundamental as Excel was for my generation—and students who graduate without knowing how to work alongside AI will be at a real disadvantage.
So to give students a real competitive edge before they graduate, we worked with Amazon Ads and the incredible team at Pacvue, including our amazing intern (pictured below) Maura Gilday, to build a pilot with hope to scale…..
An AI Student Accelerator where high school and college students won't just learn about AI—they'll use it the way companies do.
Over eight days they'll:
✅ Get hands-on with Amazon Ads AI-powered creative tools and earn certifications through Amazon Ads Academy.
✅ Hear from Amazon Ads leaders on how AI is transforming advertising.
✅ Build campaigns for real brands like SharkNinja and others
✅ Create portfolio work they can actually talk about in college essays and interviews.
✅ Compete to have their work recognized by industry leaders.
Because here's what I believe: The students graduating four years from now won't be competing against AI. They'll be competing against classmates who know how to use it.
I'm excited to see what these students accomplish and where this idea can go.
I can't wait to introduce you to these students and share what they're capable of creating. Stay tuned for more!
Please DM me if you'd like to get involved in a community effort to educate our next generation! This type of course and education does not exist - let's create it together!