By Nisanur Gül
When students in Greater Lafayette step into Career+ Pathways™ experiences that involve artificial intelligence, healthcare, and marketing, there’s a good chance they’ll meet Jason Padgett.
Jason bridges two worlds that don’t always overlap: Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and community health on one side, and emerging AI tools on the other. As a no-code Chief AI Officer at Phoenix Paramedic Solutions and an AI educator and senior consultant with Phoenix Solutions Group, he helps organizations become “AI-native” in a practical, approachable way, without hype. He brings that same mindset to Career+™ Skills Bootcamps and Microinternships, where AI is treated as a set of tools students can learn to direct and use responsibly.
His Role & Results
Phoenix Paramedic Solutions (PPS) and Phoenix Solutions Group (PSG) have been long-standing partners in the Career+™ ecosystem, welcoming students into experiences that range from public safety and community health to AI-powered marketing and healthcare innovation.
At Phoenix Paramedic Solutions, Jason explores how a 30-person healthcare and EMS organization can use AI to improve operations while staying deeply human-centered. At Phoenix Solutions Group, he supports small and mid-sized organizations with AI literacy workshops, data architecture support, and onboarding programs that help teams use AI safely and effectively. Across both organizations, Phoenix has hosted Career+™ Skills Bootcamps, supported Work-Based Learning placements, and created student-friendly environments where high school learners can see real roles in healthcare, EMS, and community health up close.
Jason’s collaboration with Career+™ began when Phoenix Paramedic Solutions started bringing students in to explore EMS careers like EMT and paramedic. That early work with Greater Lafayette Commerce and Career+ Pathways™ opened the door to deeper collaboration, especially in AI-focused experiences with high school students, a group he has always enjoyed working with.
Helping Students Build Real-World AI Skills in Marketing
In the AI in Marketing Skills Bootcamp, Jason co-designed and co-facilitated a curriculum that shows students how AI is changing marketing work and how they can stay relevant. Students see that AI will be part of modern marketing workflows, but people still make key editorial judgments about quality, tone, and brand alignment.
He coaches students on effective prompting, translating brand voice into clear instructions for AI tools, and applying basic evaluation skills so they can tell when AI-generated content is strong, needs revision, or should be discarded. Jason also gives a quick tour of the broader AI ecosystem, showing that different tools and models are built for different tasks, such as text, images, audio, or video, and that choosing the right tool is part of the job.
Throughout the bootcamp, the guiding questions stay simple and human-centered: What problem are you solving? Who is the audience? How does this tool help you communicate better, not just faster?
Bringing Design Thinking Into AI and Healthcare
In the AI in Healthcare Virtual Microinternship, Jason helps students tackle a different challenge: using AI to make healthcare workers’ jobs easier. Student teams design a custom GPT-based tool for a real healthcare context and, along the way, get a concrete introduction to design thinking.
They clarify the problem, map out key stakeholders, and use AI tools to support research and empathy mapping so they can understand what success looks like for frontline staff and leadership. Large language models act as brainstorming and prototyping partners, while humans stay in the loop for judgment and direction. Jason also shows how one AI tool can help build instructions for another, reinforcing that modern work often involves orchestrating multiple systems rather than relying on a single product.
The message is consistent: AI can speed up discovery and iteration, but people still define the problem, evaluate options, and make decisions, especially in sensitive fields like healthcare.
The Skills and Mindsets He Wants Students to Carry Forward
Beyond any single project, Jason wants students to leave with a clearer sense of how AI works and which skills will matter over time. He stresses data literacy, pointing out that public models are trained on large datasets, but safe, accurate use in healthcare depends on clean, well-organized organizational data.
He also explains, at a high level, how traditional machine-learning models differ from generative large language models, and why outputs from generative systems can’t be fully predicted. Evaluation, he tells students, isn’t a one-time test; it’s an ongoing process that should involve multidisciplinary teams thinking together about what “good enough” looks like in real workflows.
When students ask about their own futures, Jason is direct but reassuring. Healthcare remains “a great career choice,” and AI or robotics will not replace human beings in most roles for many years. He encourages students to layer data analytics or computer science skills onto a healthcare pathway to increase their long-term value and flexibility, and he suggests “just playing with the technology” safely and thoughtfully, because comfort with new tools will matter in any field. At the same time, he urges students not to become so technical that they lose the ability to communicate clearly with colleagues; the goal is to be a patient, effective catalyst for change, not to overwhelm others with jargon.
Why Phoenix Is a Great Partner for Career+ Pathways™
Asked what makes an organization a good fit for experiences like Skills Bootcamps, Microinternships, and Work-Based Learning, Jason doesn’t start with technology; instead, he starts with people. In his view, partners need to genuinely enjoy working with young people, have patience and a willingness to explain things clearly, and see it as part of their communal responsibility to “empower the next generation.”
That description fits Phoenix organizations well. Phoenix Paramedic Solutions has hosted public safety and human services experiences that give students hands-on exposure to EMS and community health roles. Phoenix Solutions Group engages students in AI-heavy projects that stay grounded in real organizational problems and human needs. Across both, students encounter engaged mentors, approachable environments, and a clear message: there is room for them in these fields, and they can help shape how new tools get used.
Beyond Work: Podcasting, Meditation, and Life at Sea
Outside of formal programming, Jason spends significant time exploring AI tools and thinking about how to explain them in plain language. He also volunteers each semester with the Wabash Area Lifetime Learning Association (WALLA), teaching an eight-session introductory AI course for retirees and any adults who want to learn in a relaxed, supportive setting.
He hosts the AGI (“Advance, Grow, and Innovate with AI”) podcast, often joined by co-host Julie Koerher, a marketer and radio personality from Lafayette’s Q106.7. Together, they focus on making AI understandable for people without a computer science background and highlight practical use cases instead of hype.
Away from work and recording, Jason values time with his wife and kids, a steady meditation practice that helps him stay grounded, and a past chapter that surprises many people: he spent five years as a commercial fisherman in Alaska and on the Grand Banks of Nova Scotia, similar to what people see in The Perfect Storm. Those experiences, including high-stakes work, teamwork in challenging environments, and a commitment to staying calm under pressure, inform the way he shows up for students today.
Jason’s Impact
Across bootcamps, microinternships, and ongoing mentoring, Jason offers students a balanced, hopeful, and realistic view of AI. He treats it as a powerful set of tools that requires judgment, responsibility, and collaboration, not as a replacement for human relationships, especially in human-centered fields like healthcare and community health.
By opening Phoenix’s doors, sharing real problems, and coaching students through authentic projects, Jason helps young people see themselves as future contributors in AI-enabled careers, without losing sight of the people they serve.
Bio
Nisanur Gül is a Social Media Manager and Virtual Assistant at Skyepack, where she supports content creation, blog writing, and digital engagement for the Career+ Pathways™ program. She works closely with the team to transform ideas into polished, audience-ready pieces. Outside of work, she enjoys designing, painting, and spending time with friends in cozy, creative settings.
