Career Quest

Inspiration

We noticed that most career tools for students are text-heavy and made for high schoolers or adults, not kids who are just starting to dream big. We wanted to make career exploration fun immersive, visual, and age-appropriate. Our goal was to let elementary and middle-school students “try on” different professions in a safe, playful way, so they can see what inspires them early instead of guessing later.

What it does

Career Quest is an interactive storybook that lets kids live a “day in the life” of different careers. Students chat with a friendly guide that learns their interests and work style (“Do you like helping people? Fast-paced jobs?”). Based on their answers, the system suggests careers (like Doctor, Firefighter, or Designer) and invites them to switch places. Each career becomes a short 3-to-5-scene simulation, where the student makes decisions and watches the story unfold through 2D cartoon visuals generated by AI. At the end, Career Quest summarizes the skills they showed, explains the education path, and suggests more roles to explore.

How we built it

We built Career Quest using React + TypeScript for the frontend, styled with custom CSS to keep everything colorful and age-friendly. The AI backbone runs entirely on Google Gemini 1.5 Pro, which generates both the interactive story scenes and the corresponding 2D illustration prompts. Each user choice is sent to Gemini through a Node.js backend, which maintains context so the story flows naturally from one scene to the next. The frontend renders Gemini’s output (text, images, and choices) so students can play through a full “day in the life” of a career.

Challenges we ran into

Making Gemini keep consistent cartoon characters and art style across multiple scenes.
Designing kid-safe prompts that stay fun and imaginative but never inappropriate.
Handling state and branching logic as users make different choices.
Balancing realism with simplicity so the app teaches without overwhelming.
Coordinating across frontend, backend, and AI-prompt writing under time pressure.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Created a Gemini-powered simulation engine illustrates interactive stories for kids.
Built a working prototype that generates scenes, decisions, and cohesive visuals in real time.
Designed an inclusive, visually engaging interface that’s easy for elementary and middle-school users.

What we learned

How to design multi-step AI interactions that feel like games rather than chatbots.
The importance of prompt structure and context memory when using Gemini for branching dialogue.
How to simplify UX for younger learners—less text, more visuals, clear next steps.
How teamwork across AI, frontend, and design roles speeds up iteration and creativity.

What's next for Career Quest

Add voice narration and animated 2D transitions.
Create student profiles that track explored careers and earned badges.
Develop a teacher dashboard for classroom integration.
Partner with schools or youth programs to make Career Quest a free educational tool.
Work with workers in careers to build realistic 'day in the lives' experiences for students