Warren High JROTC first in country to complete AI course
Assistant Superintendent Dr. Roger Brossmer hands freshman Melanie Garcia her certificate of completion of the AI course. (Photo by Alex Dominguez)
DOWNEY — Students in Warren High School’s JROTC program were recognized Tuesday for their completion of their Introduction to Artificial Intelligence course.
The curriculum was a condensed, pilot version of the usually two-semester course from The Coding School. Major Victor Shen described it as “a quick introduction of data sets, machine learning, and how artificial intelligence on the back-end works.”
“The significance of artificial intelligence, as we all know with technological advances, is so important that young people understand and learn the foundations of it and get exposed to it early,” said Shen. “The first time that they should be exposed to it is as early as possible, and so this is a great setting.
“Whether or not they use it today, we know that they’ll use it tomorrow, and so it’s extremely important to understand the good, the bad, the ethics behind it, but also the foundations of it.”
Warren’s JROTC is the first high school JROTC program in the nation to complete the course.
According to Lt. Col. (retired) Melissa Gardner, the senior army instructor for Warren’s JROTC program, the Army JROTC program has been making moves more towards STEM-oriented curriculum.
She said having the opportunity to have an AI course “has been phenomenal.”
“In preparation for this class…We talked about, ‘Where is AI in our everyday life,’ and then we talked about the ethical considerations,” said Garner. “Once you start looking at it, it’s amazing, every single day you see multiple articles and things happening with regards to AI.”
This is still just the first year that JROTC has been offered at Warren. Principal Carrie White expressed enthusiasm for the program’s continued growth.
Warren High School’s JROTC students were the first high school class in the country to complete the new AI curriculum. (Photo by Alex Dominguez)
“I’m really excited to see the growth in just a short period of time,” said White. “I think hiring Lt. Col. Gardner has allowed us to jump in and expose our students to an AI course in their first semester of the program is a phenomenal feat. I’m excited to see where this program will be a year to four years from now, because our students are our future leaders, and to know that they are getting up-to-date, relevant, critical information that is impacting education and the military, as well as our communities and our overall lifestyles is really encouraging.”
Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the Army Dn. Mario A. Guerra commended Downey Unified School District for being “amazing in promoting the educational opportunities for their kids.”
“There’s no other school in the country that’s getting this, nobody else has that infrastructure, has the support from the principal, from the school district,” said Guerra. “This is amazing. Our kids are going to be better off for having this.”