A 501(c)(3) run by high schoolers · Bay Area, California
free workshops · the $40 kit · grants to $1,500
Free build days taught over video by our student teachers, a $40 kit the builder keeps, and grants up to $1,500 for the students who keep going. This page is the whole program, start to finish.
01The build day
48 teachers signed up
Two of our student teachers run it live over video, during class time. The class meets the $40 kit, writes first code in a browser simulation, and watches it work. When funding covers it, real parts sit on the desks.
01100%
Every session is taught by our student teachers, live. The person at the front of the room is barely older than the class.
02over video
We teach into the classroom over video, so a school with no lab and no budget can still run a build day.
03one form
Fill out the workshop form and we schedule it with you. No prep on your side, no cost, no catch.
02The kit and the curriculum
5 parts · $40 · yours to keep
Fig. 02 · the $40 kit, explodedthe student keeps the board
The curriculum takes a student from no tech background to a build of their own. Lessons run as game-like simulations and a code editor in the browser, not a textbook, and students climb the same ladder in every country.
Finish the whole track and you earn a certificate. The certificate auto-qualifies you for the pitch competition.
03Inside a funded build
half on signing · half at demo
Win a pitch, and this is the road: a mentor, a kit, and a deadline that ends in a working demo. These are the real stages we track, not a marketing diagram.
01Half on signing
A pitch wins. The team is picked to build, and half the grant lands on signing so a good idea never stalls on parts money.
02$40 kit
The parts ship. A real air-quality kit, about $40 in parts, lands on a desk.
03
First call with a mentor. The plan and the timeline get set.
04
First working piece. The sensor reads and the code runs.
05
It comes together end to end.
06
A working demo, ready to show with real data.
07Half at demo
Deployed and published as a real, finished project. The second half of the grant pays out at the demo.
none shipped yet
The mentor commits to five touchpoints across an eight-week launch arc, plus an open thread for questions. Check-ins run every two weeks, and a build can take two to four months.
04Chapters
the honest count: 0
There are no GSV chapters yet. You could start the first one.
A chapter is a student team at another school running the same program: same kit, same curriculum, our training and materials. We would rather say zero than dress it up. If you want to build the first one, we want to hear from you.
Start a chapter05International
4 on-the-ground relationships
Abroad, the program starts in a classroom: a partner school signs up, a class meets the kit, and the students who keep going follow it all the way to a funded build. Every international session so far has run over video. The first in-person visits are still ahead of us.
A teacher at a partner school fills out one form asking us to come teach. It costs the school nothing, and no lab is required.
Two of our teens run a live build session over video for the whole class. First contact with the kit and the idea.
The students who want more keep going in the curriculum, a project-based track they learn on between sessions.
Finishing the curriculum earns a certificate. It also auto-qualifies the student for the international pitch competition.
The student records a short pitch for a project their community needs, the same way any builder enters.
They apply to the international edition of the pitch competition with that video and a plan.
If they are picked, they get a GSV mentor and a build grant, and start building for real.
They show the working build with real data. That is the payoff both doors lead to.
Working relationshipsPartner · Place
The terms, plainly
07Two doors in
teach · build
Teachers: one form puts a free build day on your calendar. Students: we hand real classes and real builds to teenagers, and there is a seat open.