Indian American Students Take White House Stage at Inaugural Presidential AI Challenge

Indian American students claimed top honors at the inaugural Presidential AI Challenge, earning recognition at the White House on June 9 as part of a landmark national competition launched under President Trump's executive order on AI education for American youth.

The challenge, which drew more than 20,000 K 12 students, educators, mentors and community teams from all 50 states, asked participants to design AI powered solutions tackling real world community problems ranging from public health and safety to environmental and education challenges. 

Among the celebrated Indian American winners was a five member elementary school team from Aldie, Virginia, which captured the Elementary School Track 2 title with the Friendzone Chatbot Bullying Prevention App. The team comprised Aarna Jaiswal, Eshani Khatri, Riva Madda, Samhitha Pinnamareddy and Sanuli Rathnayake, whose project addressed one of the most pressing concerns in schools today.

At the middle school level, Viha Iyer, Arya Pratap and Shrimayi Shetty of NorthStar Middle School in Sammamish, Washington, claimed the Middle School Track 1 title for their project SkillUp, a platform designed to build career ready skills among young learners.

In the high school division, Khandakar Mahin of Upper Darby Senior High School in Pennsylvania won the national Track 1 title with a standout project using computer vision technology to help law enforcement identify hotel rooms in criminal investigations, a tool with direct real world public safety applications.

The challenge, created under a presidential initiative to expand artificial intelligence education, encourages young people to use tools such as machine learning and computer vision responsibly while tackling issues from public safety and health to environmental monitoring and education access.  Officials at the White House ceremony said the quality and civic mindedness of winning projects exceeded expectations, signaling a strong pipeline of AI ready talent across the country for decades to come.