photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

Students from Lawrence Virtual School, 9th grader Lawrence Dao and 7th grader Daniel Dao, won first place at the Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge on Friday, February 7, 2025.

They say they’re “not experts yet” in artificial intelligence, but Lawrence Dao and Daniel Dao think they’re not alone — and that there’s a market for teaching kids about these powerful electronic tools.

The two Lawrence Virtual School students — Lawrence is in ninth grade and Daniel in seventh — have thought up a company called “Don’t Panic AI Tutors,” which would teach K-12 students about topics like AI literacy and ethics and how to best use AI in their daily lives.

“Kansas students are falling behind the AI revolution,” Daniel told a panel of judges on Friday at Douglas County’s annual youth entrepreneurship competition.

It was an idea that resonated with the judges, as Lawrence and Daniel beat out six other business proposals from Douglas County students in grades six through 12 to win the contest’s top prize of $1,250. The contestants each had to prepare a written summary of their business plan, give a formal presentation to the judges and set up a trade show display at the Dwayne Peaslee Technical Training Center, 2920 Haskell Ave.

In their presentation, Lawrence and Daniel highlighted that other countries, like Singapore, South Korea and Finland, are already incorporating AI into their school curricula, but the U.S. is not.

“The U.S. is lagging behind. In fact, only 36% of Kansas schools offer foundational computer science, lower than the national average at 57.5%,” Daniel said. “And there are no dedicated AI programs in Lawrence Public Schools. This leaves most of our students completely unprepared for many future jobs that will require AI and tech skills.”

photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

From left to right, 9th grader Lawrence Dao and 7th grader Daniel Dao of Lawrence Virtual School stand with Jeanny Sharp, marketing manager for Silver Lake Bank, one of the events sponsors.

While their tutoring business is still in the planning stages, they hope to get it off the ground sometime later this year. And they have more experience than a lot of students their age in analyzing AI models like GPT.

In July 2024, they helped a team of Lawrence Virtual School students win top honors at the 22nd annual eCYBERMISSION National Judging & Educational Event. As part of their project, they evaluated ChatGPT’s math reasoning, which they said involved running about 1,800 tests of “plugging in math questions over and over” in ChatGPT and compiling a spreadsheet of the results. They presented their findings to the Lawrence school district’s tech team and school board, advocating for integrating AI into the curriculum, as the Journal-World reported.

As for the reassuring name of their company? It comes from the popular book series “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” in which the titular guidebook, a portable collection of “all knowledge and wisdom,” has “Don’t Panic” printed on its cover.

Here’s some more about other entrants in this year’s competition:

photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

The participants in the Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge on Friday, February 7, 2025.

• Felix Kirkland, a freshman from Lawrence High School and last year’s first-place winner, came up with a creative souvenir idea for wedding guests: a smashed penny. The concept involves couples renting a penny press with pennies provided, which could then be pressed into a custom design of their choosing to commemorate the occasion. Kirkland’s idea earned him second place in the competition and a $1,000 prize.

Kirkland told the judges on Friday that when he would attend museums, he always enjoyed taking home a pressed penny as a keepsake, and starting a business like this would be another way for people to add to their collections.

photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

Third place winners of the Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge, Bill Mills Middle School students 7th grader Abhirup Maity and 8th grader Grayson Barker.

• The third-place winners – eighth-grader Grayson Barker and seventh-grader Arhirup Maity from Billy Mills Middle School – pitched a food truck called Mediterranean Munch and split a $500 prize. They said they chose Mediterranean food because of the many health benefits with lots of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and protein.

“We decided to go with a food truck because it’s much cheaper to run,” Maity said. “A food truck also allows us to be mobile, so it can be set up in a variety of locations.” He added that the truck would be rotated throughout the locations to determine which areas in northeastern Kansas are the most profitable.

photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

Freshman Felix Kirkland of Lawrence High received second place in the Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge on Friday, February 7, 2025.

• Emily Hulce, a senior from Baldwin High School, won fourth place for her jewelry-making business proposal, receiving a $250 prize. She told the judges that it was her mission to create inexpensive and customized jewelry for whatever suits people’s tastes.

“It’s very therapeutic for me and it’s more just like a passion project that I’ve turned into a business,” Hulce said.

All of the remaining participants in the competition received honorable mention awards and a $200 prize. Freshman Boonta Singmanichanh of Lawrence High School pitched a homemade egg roll business; junior Daniela Pena from Lawrence High School wanted to create workshops to help stop high school students from vaping; and senior Luzhilari Mathurin from Lawrence High School pitched a Venezuelan food business.

The competition is sponsored by Network Kansas, Douglas County, the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce and K-State Research and Extension. Other Kansas communities are also hosting youth entrepreneurship events, and Lawrence and Daniel will have a chance to represent Douglas County in a statewide competition at K-State University in April. The other students from Lawrence can also apply for a “wild card” spot in the statewide competition if they wish.

photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

Freshman Boonta Singmanichanh from Lawrence High School shared egg rolls with the judges for the Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge on Friday, February 7, 2025.

photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

Junior Daniela Pena from Lawrence High School pitched a business that would host workshops to help high school students quit vaping at the Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge on Friday, February 7, 2025.

photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

The winners of Douglas County’s Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge. From left to right, 8th grader Grayson Barker and 7th grader Abhirup Maity of Billy Mills Middle School won third place; 9th grader Lawrence Dao and 7th grader Daniel Dao of Lawrence Virtual School won first place; and freshman Felix Kirkland of Lawrence High.