GradeLift

FIRST PLACE

Aryan Saksena
10th Grade | Pingry School (New Jersey)

What is GradeLift?
There is a growing global challenge around the misuse of generative AI in schools. Many students use AI tools to produce polished essays quickly, but in doing so, they often bypass the learning process and do not develop stronger writing skills. At the same time, writing independently can feel difficult and time-consuming, leading students to rely on tools that complete the work for them. There is currently no clear middle ground—no tool that provides meaningful feedback without generating the assignment itself. GradeLift addresses this gap. It is an AI-powered, rubric-aligned revision coach that analyzes a student’s draft and provides structured, criterion-based feedback tied directly to the teacher’s grading standards. Rather than generating new text, GradeLift helps students improve their own work. It works with schools to support authorized, integrity-safe use that supports student learning and institutional standards.

What was the biggest challenge you faced during the competition, and how did you overcome it?
The biggest challenge I faced during the competition was building the MVP for GradeLift. I started with no formal coding experience, so turning an idea into a functional product felt overwhelming at first. Beyond learning the technical basics, I had to think through product design, user flow and how to structure feedback in a way that was rubric-aligned and integrity-safe. There were moments when features didn’t work as expected, the logic behind the feedback needed refinement or the UI felt unclear. To overcome these challenges, I narrowed my focus to the core components that made GradeLift valuable: the rubric input, the student essay and the feedback output. Instead of trying to build every feature at once, I concentrated on ensuring that the system could accurately analyze a draft and generate structured, rubric-aligned feedback. Once that foundation was stable and working reliably, I began layering on additional features, such as grade-level selection and different writing categories (research papers, argumentative essays, literary analysis, etc.). These enhancements allowed the feedback to become more context-specific and tailored to each assignment type. By building incrementally, I was able to go from an initial idea to a fully functioning MVP.

What was the most valuable lesson you learned from competing in this AI entrepreneurship challenge?
The most valuable lesson I learned from competing in this AI entrepreneurship challenge is that meaningful ideas often emerge from real experiences rather than forced brainstorming. When I initially tried to come up with a competition idea from scratch, most of what I came up with either already existed or addressed problems that were too small to matter. The breakthrough came when I stopped trying to manufacture an idea and instead paid attention to what I was observing around me. In my school library, I saw firsthand how students were misusing generative AI for writing assignments, which sparked the concept for GradeLift. That experience taught me that strong business ideas are usually rooted in genuine problems you personally witness and understand. Instead of chasing trends, the key is to identify real friction points and design thoughtful solutions around them.

What sparked your interest in AI and entrepreneurship, and how do you see the two fields working together in the future?
My interest in AI started when I saw how quickly it was changing everyday tasks, especially in school. I became curious about how powerful these tools were and how they could be used beyond just generating answers. At the same time, I’ve always been interested in entrepreneurship because it allows you to turn ideas into real solutions. Building GradeLift showed me how these two fields naturally work together. AI provides the technology, but entrepreneurship is what turns that technology into something more useful. In the future, I believe AI and entrepreneurship will become even more connected. AI will continue to create new possibilities, but entrepreneurs will shape how those tools are applied in ways that solve real problems.

What was your impression of Stevens School of Business before the competition, and has it changed after participating?
Before the competition, I was not very familiar with the Stevens School of Business. I knew of Stevens as a university, but I did not have much insight into its business or entrepreneurship programs. After participating in the competition, I learned much more about the school’s focus on innovation and technology.