9th Annual Summer Academy

2025 BOSS Summer Academy: Innovation. Leadership. Impact.

In just two weeks, our 2025 Summer Academy turned middle and high school youngsters into innovators — launching websites, producing original music, publishing AI-illustrated books, and pitching a patented safety app, Safe Encounter, to real-world investors.

The 2025 Summer Academy was a proving ground for creativity, leadership, and innovation. In the classroom, students began with effective AI prompting, learning to get exact, high-quality results instead of vague answers. They built full-stack projects — front ends in Loveable, back ends in Supabase — and launched working websites in just days.

We explored the creative side of AI with Suno for music production — every student left with an original track. For visual storytelling, they generated art with ChatGPT, Ideogram, Leonardo, and Vheer, then paired it with writing from ChatGPT or Claude to publish short AI-illustrated books. Finally, we turned AI into a daily study partner — using Google AI Studio, ChatGPT, and Claude to tutor through homework, explain mistakes, and generate custom practice sets.

The results were stunning: a cohort of young men with live websites, finished songs, illustrated books, and a clear plan to use AI to learn faster and create at a higher level. Outside the classroom, the entrepreneurial spotlight shone on the Business Pitch Competition, built around Safe Encounter, the MIT App Inventor Global Hackathon–winning and now U.S.-patented safety app created by BOSS scholars. Safe Encounter isn’t a hypothetical classroom project. It’s a nationally recognized safety innovation born from BOSS scholars themselves — first winning the MIT App Inventor Global Hackathon People’s Choice Award and now secured with a U.S. Patent. The app transforms any smartphone into a neutral witness, legal advisor, and instant lifeline with one tap or voice command.

During the competition, students tackled tough, investor-level questions:

• How will you market Safe Encounter to both public safety and gender-safety audiences?

• What’s your strategy for scaling to college campuses, rideshare fleets, and corporate safety programs?

• How can partnerships with organizations like YWCA, RAINN, and Uber amplify adoption?

In teams, they refined business models, sharpened market strategies, and presented to a panel of real-world financial leaders — including representatives of BOSS supporter UBS Wise River Advisors — who grilled them like seasoned venture capitalists. These young innovators spoke with confidence about scaling a tool designed to save lives, protect rights, and create safer encounters for millions and praised their professionalism, market awareness, and ability to translate lived experience into actionable solutions.

Beyond the pitch stage, students immersed themselves in the BOSS pillars — building mental, emotional, and social resilience in workshops with leaders like Michael Cooper, who challenged them to break free from “The Drift” and live with purpose. Field trips to the Rams Training Camp, Lakers Clinic, and Team Liquid/Alienware’s esports facility connected them with elite performance environments, showing how excellence applies everywhere.

The result? Transformative growth you could see and hear students stepping into the role of visionary problem-solvers, ready to lead. And, of course, there were moments of celebration — awards for academic growth, leadership, athleticism, and innovation. From MVP trophies to recognition for most improved, each honor reflected the personal growth behind the achievements.

The 2025 Summer Academy proved that when you combine vision, mentorship, and opportunity, young men don’t just prepare for the future — they create it.