Baltimore's Frederick Douglass High Juniors Build AI Model in MXLab

Juniors at Frederick Douglass High School stepped into Learning Undefeated’s mobile AI laboratory, the MXLab, and built and trained an image-recognition model on Feb. 26, 2026, as part of the Building Steps college-readiness program. The hands-on session had students collect and label images, train a simple system to recognize different images, and see how model performance depends on accurate information and careful preparation.

The MXLab visit is one of a series of practical STEM experiences tied to Building Steps; organizers scheduled monthly trips for Frederick Douglass students to explore technology, cybersecurity, and other in-demand fields. Program leaders described the work as more than coding, emphasizing career pathways that many participants had not previously encountered and linking classroom skills to postsecondary opportunities.

Frederick Douglass High operates temporarily from a swing space at 6900 Park Heights Avenue while its original campus at 2301 Gwynns Falls Parkway undergoes renovation. The school serves grades 9 through 12 with an enrollment of 663 students under school leader David Verdi, and offers Career and Technology Education programs that can lead to industry certifications and college credits. The building-block nature of the MXLab exercise aligned with those CTE goals by introducing students to applied data work and computational thinking.

Student response was immediate: junior Nehemiah Ford said, “I think that Building Steps is one of the best college career readiness programs you could ever have if you're in Baltimore, especially if you go to high school.” Ford’s comment underscores the program’s local resonance for students drawn from Baltimore City’s choice-lottery system and placed in a school that lists more than 15 clubs and 17 sports teams alongside academic pathways.

The classroom exercise highlighted a concrete lesson about data quality: students observed that mislabeled or inconsistent images reduced the model’s accuracy, reinforcing the connection between reliable information and functioning AI systems. In practice, that meant students iterating on labels, retraining the model, and comparing results — a compressed version of workflow common in industry settings.

Beyond the MXLab day, Building Steps leaders plan monthly follow-ups to deepen exposure to tech careers and to connect students with credentialing opportunities listed in the school’s CTE offerings. With Frederick Douglass balancing renovation at its historic Gwynns Falls Parkway campus and daily operations from Park Heights, the mobile lab visits represent an immediate, portable investment in career-readiness for juniors navigating college and workforce decisions.