IDEA X Challenges Students to Explore AI Solutions

June 9, 2026

It’s technology that is all around us and widely used in our systems and digital spaces every day: Artificial Intelligence (AI).

With the rise of AI, social media, and algorithm-driven content, people are exposed to more information than ever before, often without knowing where it comes from or how it was created. This can be a problem for adults and children alike.

This year’s IDEA X Challenge invited teams of secondary students to explore and design innovative AI solutions that strengthen society’s ability to consume and evaluate information critically.

“We’re the demographic that’s been most affected by this issue as we’ve grown up with AI influenced information and have experienced first-hand how difficult it is to evaluate what’s bias and what is real,” said Jenny Wang in her opening presentation.

Wang is a member of team AI Phillic from R.E. Mountain Secondary, one of eight teams that competed in this year’s annual competition. Her team which consisted of all grade 12 students included Sabrina Baru Valdez, Justin Gu, and Yugeon Hong.

AI Phillic took an educational approach with their project, one that focused on teaching AI to students in the K-12 system.

“The main theme of our project is to strengthen critical thinking skills in children using a learning hub solution and a critical thinking scanner,” explained Sabrina Baru Valdez.

“I think since AI is so rampant in schools and kids don’t really know how to use it properly, it’s just really important for them to know academic integrity and for them to have their own critical thinking skills,” added Valdez.

AI Phillic’s project wowed the judges and left them taking home the Outstanding Solution prize of $10,000.

Honourable mention awards went to two teams, Razing and ElevAIte from Walnut Grove Secondary, with both teams winning $5,000. Razing consisted of Doris Du, Bella Lai, Sam Wang, and Susanna Sun. ElevAIte included William Luo, Xavier Saunders, Robert Chen, Carl Sun, and Jayden Jung.

All teams kickstarted their AI journey in January and after months of research and problem solving, they presented their ideas at the finale to a panel of judges, who were experts in AI, technology and education.

“We really did learn a lot from this project since it was such a long-term project as well, it required us to really get into the project and really immerse ourselves within our research and our solution,” noted Wang.

In her reflection, she admitted that the experience was “beneficial to anyone who is interested and for students out there who want to make a difference and learn more.”

You can view photos and videos of all of the team presentations below.

AI Phillic (REMSS)