Leadership / McNeese State / 2026
Grok Bot Build Night
An evening of building with Grok Bot and Cursor, bringing students together to turn ideas into working AI projects.
The evening, in numbers.
Students from different majors came together to explore Grok Bot and Cursor, test ideas and help each other build.
- Student check-ins
- 55
- Registrations
- 59
- Seats available
- 75
55 check-ins and 59 registrations: organizer recap. 75 advertised seats: Luma listing.
What I worked on
An approved SpaceXAI for Education student build night. I brought the opportunity to campus and coordinated with faculty, university offices, ACM and student volunteers to make it happen.
01
Bring the opportunity to campus
After an invitation to apply from Fiona Whittington, I brought the proposal to McNeese and worked with the university to turn it into a real student build night.
02
Connect the people and the details
I coordinated with faculty, university offices, ACM and student volunteers around the venue, registration and outreach.
03
Make room for hands-on learning
The goal was an approachable evening where students could build, ask questions and help one another, regardless of their major or previous AI experience.
Photo journal / 6 frames
Inside Drew Hall.
McNeese · September 2026 / 01
A shared commitment to building
University leadership joined students and faculty for the evening at Drew Hall.
McNeese · September 2026 / 02
Working through it together
The most useful conversations happened around a laptop: testing an idea, finding a problem, helping someone move forward.
McNeese · September 2026 / 03
From an introduction to a first build
Students explored Grok Bot, Cursor and agentic AI through hands-on work rather than a presentation alone.
Photo: Solida Tan / The Poke Press
McNeese · September 2026 / 04
One room, many starting points
The event welcomed students across majors, including people trying these tools for the first time.
McNeese · September 2026 / 05
Before the first build
A conversation with university leadership during Grok Bot Build Night.
McNeese · September 2026 / 06
Introducing the tools
A first look at Grok Bot and the tools students would use during the evening.
Published coverage
The stories that followed.
The Poke Press
· English
Grok Bot Build Night A Success
Campus reporting on the student initiative, the builds and the people who helped make the evening happen.
Photo: Solida Tan / The Poke Press
Read the feature from The Poke Press in a new tab
Routine of Education · RONB Education
· English
A student-led AI build night at McNeese
Routine of Education's feature on bringing students together to build with Grok Bot and Cursor.
Read the feature from Routine of Education · RONB Education in a new tab
Lokpath
· नेपाली
From Nuwakot to a build night at McNeese
A Nepali-language feature tracing my journey in technology and the story behind the event.
Read the feature from Lokpath in a new tabOriginal posts
Read the original recaps.
The photographs are available in the gallery above. You can also open the full posts here.
My Build Night recap
Attendance, photos and acknowledgments from the evening.
RONB Education's feature
The original Routine of Education post, with its published photograph.
The people who helped make it happen
- Program opportunity
- Fiona Whittington and SpaceXAI for Education
- University coordination
- Dr. Ning Zhang and Dr. Srinivasan Ambatipati
- Marketing and outreach
- Tanya Brewster and Emily Smith
- Venue coordination
- Calie Rolfe
- Registration and check-in
- Yogesh Khadka
- Community
- McNeese ACM, participating students, faculty and university staff