Ethan Phillips

Senior Web Developer at WebLatte.
Founder & Director of Open Tech Academy.

I’m a high school senior who builds websites, experiments with AI and robotics, works on computer hardware, and creates technology programs for students and community members.

Battlefield High School · Class of 2027 · Northern Virginia

Portrait of Ethan Phillips in a dark suit and tie

Current work

Most of my work lives in two places: making technology more accessible and building better experiences on the web.

Founder & Director

Open Tech Academy

Open Tech Academy is a nonprofit focused on practical technology education and access. I develop programs and workshops covering digital literacy, PC building and repair, cybersecurity, scam awareness, responsible AI use, and certifications.

I also work on the systems behind the organization—from its websites and learning platform to partnerships, grants, equipment, and computer giveaways.

I handle: program design, operations, fundraising, partnerships, and technical infrastructure.

opentechacademy.org

Senior Web Developer

WebLatte

At WebLatte, I design and build websites for organizations and businesses. I work across the full path from an early idea to a dependable production site, with a focus on making each decision useful to the people who will actually use it.

I work across: UX, development, accessibility, performance, hosting, domains, deployment, and maintenance.

weblatte.io

Technical work

I like projects that cross boundaries. A web problem can become an infrastructure problem; an AI experiment can become a robotics or hardware problem.

Applied AI

I experiment with local language models, training and fine-tuning, structured training data, computer vision with YOLO, and AI-assisted development. I’m most interested in systems that can interact with software or physical hardware.

Robotics

In FIRST Tech Challenge, I have explored autonomous control, computer vision, sensors, fault detection, recovery, and simulated gamepad control. I have also explored how a larger model could generate demonstrations and failures for a smaller model designed around a REV Control Hub.

Hardware & infrastructure

I build, diagnose, modify, and repair computers. My hands-on work also includes GPUs, storage, networking, embedded systems, virtualization, operating systems, cloud infrastructure, 3D printing, and custom components.

Leadership & service

Some of my most useful lessons have come from work that is less about code and more about people, judgment, and responsibility.

Student leadership

Communications and operations

I currently serve as Battlefield High School’s overall Communications Director and as a Virginia Student Councils Association committee head. Alongside those roles, I help organize events and communications, participate in state-level leadership, and build systems that improve student-council work.

U.S. Soccer

Grassroots Referee

Refereeing has taught me to make quick independent decisions, interpret complex rules, communicate clearly, stay aware of a changing situation, and handle conflict under pressure.

Still learning.

I’m interested in computer science, artificial intelligence, engineering, entrepreneurship, and technology leadership. I have pursued structured AI education, including the Google AI Professional Certificate, and continue learning by building projects, reading technical material, and testing ideas in practice.

The question I keep coming back to is simple: what useful thing should exist next?