Episode Details

Jeremy Hill handed his Richmond High School students MagicSchool and told them to break it. They couldn't, and that two-week red-team is why teachers across the district trusted the tool enough to let students use it. Hill, MagicSchool's 2025 AI Educator of the Year, joins Jason with two of his tech team members, high school junior Sophia Hill and Wittenberg University sophomore Maren Bolser, for a conversation about what AI in school looks like when students run the show.

They get into why university crowds booed AI at graduations this spring, the literacy gap forming before AI has even turned three, and the line between using AI as a thought partner and an answer vending machine. Maren talks about using MagicSchool to work around a learning disability. The group debates the Alpha School model, the bet on Ivy Tech over four-year degrees, and whether Demis Hassabis is right that we're standing in the foothills of the singularity. Hill's closing argument: give the problems to the kids and let them spread the solution.

ABOUT THE GUESTS

Jeremy Hill is an eLearning specialist and Tech Team facilitator at Richmond Community Schools in Indiana, and MagicSchool's 2025 AI Educator of the Year. For ten years he has run a student-led model where the Richmond High School Tech Team pilots tools, leads professional development, and trains teachers across the district.

Sophia Hill is a Richmond High School student heading into her junior year and a member of the Tech Team's presentation group. Maren Bolser is a former Richmond Tech Team member now entering her sophomore year at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio.

GUEST LINKS

Jeremy Hill: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-hill-0a3a117b/

Richmond Community Schools: https://www.linkedin.com/company/richmond-community-schools/

TIME STAMPS

00:00 - Meet Jeremy Hill and the Richmond Tech Team

01:11 - Ten years in, and the MagicSchool Educator of the Year award

02:44 - How students red-teamed MagicSchool before the launch

04:30 - Why college crowds booed AI at graduation this spring

06:00 - The literacy gap forming before AI has turned three

13:59 - What is the point of K-12 when AI can answer anything

20:55 - Who gets the productivity gains, a shorter week or a bigger paycheck

24:48 - The Alpha School model and the equity question

26:40 - Thought partner vs answer machine, and AI with a learning disability

39:22 - Four-year degrees vs micro-credentials and the Ivy Tech bet

49:19 - Demis Hassabis, the singularity, and the five-year question

53:54 - Closing messages: give the problems to the kids

CONNECT WITH JASON PADGETT

Director of Growth and Partnerships at CitizenAI

📧 jason@mycitizen.ai

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-grant-padgett/

X: https://x.com/NoCodeCAIO

Newsletter (No Code CAIO): https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7399599285849346048

Available for interviews and keynotes on AI in education → jason@mycitizen.ai

AGI PODCAST NETWORK

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TOOLS JASON RECOMMENDS

MindStudio → https://get.mindstudio.ai/q7n7u5cttkdq

Riverside.fm → https://riverside.sjv.io/e1xyBr

Wispr Flow → https://ref.wisprflow.ai/jason-padgett

RESOURCES MENTIONED

Richmond Tech Team on the Exceptional Educators Podcast: https://exceptionaleducatorspodcast.transistor.fm/episodes/ai-visionaries-richmond-high-schools-tech-team-students-on-ai-shaping-edtech-and-responsible-tech-use

MagicSchool: ht