Not toy visual block builders. High school students learn terminal discipline, atomic git checkpoints, and directed agentic coding to design, build, open-source, and publish real Android applications.
Modern AI agents are rocket engines. But without version control discipline, they make hundreds of uncommitted changes until the app breaks and students can’t go back. We teach the steering wheel first.
Students dump huge prompts into web chatbots, paste blind code blocks into broken files, accumulate invisible syntax bugs, and hit dead ends they cannot undo.
One prompt, one outcome, one atomic commit. Branch per experiment. Students learn git restore, git reset, and git reflog on Day 1 before touching any generative model.
Colleges ignore generic completion certificates. But an authentic GitHub repository showing 80+ sequential atomic commits, pull requests, and commit rationale over 14 days is undeniable proof of engineering leadership.
# Day 2: Students learn the atomic commit cadence
mayo-builder@macbook ~/projects/habit-pulse $ git status
On branch feat/local-storage-v1
Changes to be committed:
+ modified: src/domain/JournalEngine.kt
+ new file: src/storage/SqliteDriver.kt
mayo-builder@macbook ~/projects/habit-pulse $ git commit -m "feat(storage): wire room database with local-only schema"
[feat/local-storage-v1 8e4f1a2] feat(storage): wire room database with local-only schema
2 files changed, 48 insertions(+)
mayo-builder@macbook ~/projects/habit-pulse $ git push origin feat/local-storage-v1
✓ Pull request created: github.com/mayo-cohort-26/habit-pulse/pull/4
We hold every student project to stringent privacy, legal, and software freedom invariants.
Licensed under Apache 2.0 by default. Full code transparency on public GitHub, reviewable by university admissions officers worldwide.
No third-party ad networks, no predatory in-app microtransactions, and no payout accounts needed for minors. Clean utility software only.
Local-first architecture. Apps collect zero personal data (no accounts, no tracking telemetry), satisfying the Indian DPDP Act and COPPA.
Published through Substrata Labs org profile to shield minors from legal overhead, with legal agreement for 100% app transfer when students turn 18.
Structured into two focused 7-day phases, fitting seamlessly into evening prep or afternoon lab blocks.
Setting up Android Studio, ADB, and Git. Teaching the steering thesis: pre-commit hooks, atomic branching, and how to recover from broken AI code via Git reflog.
Teams of 3 formulate their problem statements. Authoring structured specs and AGENTS.md constraints. Building the initial functional skeleton on local emulators.
Implementing SQLite/Room local storage. Zero-network architectures: why on-device inference and local data guarantee privacy, lightning-fast response, and zero cloud hosting bills.
Peer pull-request reviews between teams. Automated secret scanning to guarantee zero leaked credentials. Freezing core feature scope before publishing phase.
We understand boarding school schedules, academic prep slots, and IT constraints. We handle the entire operational, legal, and mentorship burden.
Runs on student laptops or existing computer lab machines. Zero cloud hosting overhead or firewall modifications needed.
Registered Micro-Enterprise (Govt. of India Udyam: UDYAM-RJ-37-0014993). Parent co-signed developer agreements protect all student IP.
Students submit their live Google Play link, F-Droid listing, and public GitHub repository directly on their Common App and UCAS portfolios.
Founder, Substrata Labs · Mayo College Alumnus ('22–'23)
Creator of Soul Diary (Local AI Inference on Play Store)
“When I was at Mayo, the gap wasn’t talent—it was knowing how to bridge raw curiosity with real-world developer tools. AI coding agents can either make students lazy copy-pasters or hyper-empowered architects. WeLiftoff exists to build the latter: disciplined young founders who ship real software to the world.”
Inquire for on-campus residency dates, customized batch sizing (15–30 students), and complete syllabus documentation.