WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Three seniors at Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts have created Prodigy Pro, a free artificial intelligence platform designed to help students turn their ideas into real-world ventures.
Co-founders Aiden Azoy and Anthony Tan and Head of Design Mia Rubio developed the platform after attending South Florida business networking events and realizing how few students were in the room.
WATCH: Dreyfoos seniors build free AI platform for student entrepreneurs
“We attended networking events and we noticed, why are we the youngest people in the room?” Azoy said. “There are so many talented students in our communities where they’re able to pursue their professional careers outside of school.”
The students said they wanted to give young people a way to explore their interests, develop practical ideas and participate in West Palm Beach’s growing business community.
Creating opportunities for young entrepreneurs
The founders attend Dreyfoos in downtown West Palm Beach, where new development and the arrival of major companies have fueled the area’s growing reputation as “Wall Street South.”
“We go to Dreyfoos, and literally hundreds of feet away are these huge constructions of Related Ross, companies like ServiceNow or even Citadel moving down to South Florida,” Tan said. “We’re right at the forefront of this new business center that is becoming West Palm Beach.”
Tan said the students attempted to connect with professionals at local gatherings but struggled to find opportunities intended for people their age.
“We tried to go to these meetings, and a lot of the time there wouldn’t be any opportunity for us,” Tan said. “So that’s why we wanted to create our own.”
Prodigy Pro was built to help students take the first steps toward developing projects and businesses.
“Prodigy Pro is a free AI entrepreneurship platform that helps a student take their idea from an idea to the final product,” Tan said.
Azoy said the team created the platform after noticing that many students were not taking their ideas beyond the classroom.
“Prodigy Pro is a way for students to build real ventures outside of school and be able to pursue their professional interests,” Azoy said. “We noticed that not enough students are getting out there and really putting their ideas out into the world. We gave them the ability to do that.”
How Prodigy Pro works
Users enter information about an idea and the problem they hope to solve. The platform’s AI then helps organize the concept and identify potential next steps.
Rubio designed the user interface and worked to make the process understandable for students who may have little or no previous business experience.
“You upload your information and the idea that you really want to pursue,” Rubio said. “And the AI will help you guide and shape and really tell you what your next step is, as well as create roadmaps, reminders and just really help your venture get off the ground.”
The platform divides the development process into smaller sections and tasks.
“With Prodigy [Pro], we wanted to make the next step super easy and attainable,” Rubio said. “So we grouped things into different sections and made each task super easy for the user to understand, so they know what to do next with their venture.”
During a demonstration, the students used concerns about a school bus route to show how a user could enter a problem and explore possible efficiencies.
“You input your information, and it really gives you the next steps, what you should do, and you can ask the AI to help develop your venture,” Rubio said.
Keeping the AI platform free
The founders said making Prodigy Pro free was central to their mission. Azoy said students should have access to the same entrepreneurial tools regardless of their school or community’s resources.
“It’s completely free for students, and we want to stress that because we want to basically give the message that a student in an underprivileged school or community should have the same exact resources as, you know, a student in a resourced school,” Azoy said.
According to the students, Prodigy Pro has grown to more than 15,000 users in 20 countries.
The team also competed in the Mott Million Dollar Challenge, a national student entrepreneurship competition.
“A few months ago in May, we competed in the Mott Million Dollar Challenge, where we won $7,500 for our venture,” Tan said.
Tan said the prize money was reinvested into Prodigy Pro.
“A lot of it went into the development of the platform, going through the UI, the back end, also enabling the AI to be free for other students,” he said.
Building beyond high school
The three founders are seniors preparing for life after high school, but they said Prodigy Pro will continue.
Asked whether the platform would remain after graduation, Rubio responded, “Yes, of course. It’ll remain to be a free platform for our users.”
For Azoy, the larger goal is to show young people that they do not have to wait to begin developing their professional interests.
“We really think that it’s important for them to be showing up and, you know, building ventures that really matter because every student has creativity in an underprivileged or privileged school,” Azoy said.
The students’ work comes as artificial intelligence becomes increasingly integrated into education, business and everyday problem-solving. By making the platform free, the Dreyfoos seniors hope more young people will be able to turn their creativity into action and create opportunities of their own.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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