🚀 LaunchPad for High School Students — Nov 15 | Build 3 AI Agents in 2 Hours • $299 Early Bird
Reserve Your Spot
Start with Clarity
Before the stakes get higher.
Inner Circle helps families understand what actually matters in an AI-powered world — how careers, skills, projects, and extracurriculars are evaluated, and how to make smart decisions early.
$1,500/year · Includes 1 student + 1 parent or guardian
30-day money-back guarantee
Grades 7–10 · All interests welcome · Sessions recorded
Who Inner Circle Is For
Designed for families who want direction—before decisions become high-stakes.
In choosing extracurriculars or projects to showcase your interest for college programs/majors of your choice.
For students who want to:
- Explore interests across STEM, business, humanities, medicine, arts, or interdisciplinary paths
- Build extracurriculars and projects that differentiate
- Understand how colleges evaluate student profiles
- Avoid wasting time on low-impact or risky activities
- Connect interests, leadership, and goals into a coherent story
- Gain clarity, confidence, and future-ready skills—before college begins
For parents who want:
- Clear guidance on what actually matters in today's admissions landscape
- Confidence navigating AI across academics and careers
- Fewer last-minute pivots driven by panic or misinformation
- A trusted perspective that complements—not replaces—college counseling
Students Join From Many Paths
We work with students across academic and career interests, including:
Inner Circle helps students connect interests to meaningful action — not force-fit a narrative.
What You'll Walk Away With
Clear direction
Know what to prioritize—and what to ignore.
Strategic extracurriculars
Projects aligned with interests, strengths, and long-term goals.
Shared language
Productive parent–student conversations about priorities.
AI confidence
Navigate AI across fields and careers with clarity.
Fewer pivots
Avoid last-minute changes during application years.
How Inner Circle Works
Meet Labs Live
Curated Labs Focused on Thinking, Direction, and Evaluation.
Strategy & Direction Lab
Choose projects and pathways that build long-term momentum
Sessions use real-world student scenarios to explore how colleges and future pathways evaluate focus, growth, and intent.
- • Choose extracurriculars and projects that build momentum
- • Identify patterns across interests, leadership, and academics
- • Make earlier, smarter decisions that compound over time
→ Students leave with clearer priorities and next steps.
Creative Storytelling & College Admissions Lab
Understand how profiles are evaluated and interpreted
Insights from former admissions officers or experienced IECs.
- • How student profiles are actually evaluated
- • How activities, leadership, and interests are read together
- • What families often misunderstand about standing out
→ Families gain clarity on how applications are truly assessed.
Competitions & Project Ideas Lab
Learn what differentiates strong projects before investing time
Case-based discussions using real, publicly available examples from major competitions (including ISEF and similar programs).
- • What differentiates strong projects from average ones
- • How rigor, originality, and impact are evaluated
- • How students should think about competitions, research, and long-term project development
(Personal ideas may be discussed privately in 1:1 sessions.)
→ Students learn how high-quality ideas are evaluated before investing time.
Builders & Career Pathways Lab
Gain clarity on real-world skills and AI-influenced careers
Conversations with real industry professionals, including founders and operators from Silicon Valley startups, and professionals across technology, business, healthcare, data, and emerging fields.
- • Skills that matter for internships, jobs, startups, and entrepreneurship
- • How careers are evolving in an AI-influenced world
- • What students should build early—beyond college applications
→ Students gain clarity on real-world skills and pathways.
Learn from those shaping the future
Inner Circle sessions feature STEAM in AI mentors from industry and research, former admissions officers, Independent education consultants, and founders building with AI creating real-world impact.
Why Inner Circle Is Different
Upstream guidance
Focuses on what's worth doing before applications and essays
Credibility-first AI
Responsible AI use that protects long-term trust with institutions
Signal over noise
Students learn to identify what actually differentiates
Designed to complement
Helps families get more value from IECs, not replace them
Who You'll Learn From
Inner Circle sessions are led by Shilpi Agarwal and supported by a rotating group of experienced mentors and advisors — selected for depth, credibility, and real-world perspective.
AI Mentors & Researchers
Industry practitioners and researchers working on applied AI systems support live project reviews, technical discussions, and builder spotlights.
Their role is to help students:
- •Strengthen project rigor and technical depth
- •Understand how AI systems work in practice
- •Avoid superficial or inflated claims
Former Admissions & College Strategy Experts
Inner Circle regularly features former admissions officers and experienced college strategy professionals who share perspective on:
- •How activities and projects are evaluated
- •What signals stand out — and which don't
- •Common mistakes families make around AI and extracurriculars
All admissions-related sessions are informational and educational, not evaluative.
Why this matters
Today's students are making long-term decisions in a world shaped by AI—regardless of what they plan to major in. Inner Circle helps families understand how student work is evaluated, which extracurriculars still carry real signal, and where effort is quietly being wasted—without hype, shortcuts, or false promises.
Shilpi Agarwal
Founder, STEAM in AI · AI Ethics Educator
Shilpi Agarwal is an internationally recognized AI ethics educator and Founder of STEAM in AI. She has taught and mentored students through AI and ethics programs connected to Stanford University, UC Berkeley, and MIT, including serving as a mentor for the MIT $100K Launch competition.
Inner Circle reflects how Shilpi works with students in practice — synthesizing AI, ethics, education, and future-of-work signals so families don't have to piece it together alone.
Included with Annual Membership
AI Ethics Foundation
On-Demand Course
Five short units:
- • The Power of AI: Beyond the Buzz
- • How AI is quietly shaping Your day
- • The Logic behind Algorithms
- • Predictive vs Generative AI: Why the difference matters
- • Responsible AI: Risks, Bias, and Ethics
Private Support
Two 1:1 Strategy Sessions with Shilpi Agarwal
Focused on:
- • Identifying story gaps and strengths
- • Passion project direction
- • Career pathways in the age of AI
Path for Students Who Want More
Students who want structured, mentor-led AI projects or research—designed for competitions, app development, or college applications—may apply separately to our STEAM in AI Intensive.
Includes access for 1 student + 1 parent or guardian.
Designed for families who want structured advisory guidance — not scattered webinars.
Clarity now beats panic later.
Make thoughtful, informed decisions about careers, projects, and extracurriculars—before the stakes are high.
Join the Inner Circle$1,500/year · Includes 1 student + 1 parent/guardian · 30-day money-back guarantee