High school students could have the opportunity to build their own artificial intelligence systems from scratch under a proposal presented to the school board.

Tony Anzalone, the district’s technology director, pitched the concept at the Sept. 21 school board meeting. The initiative would split students into two competing teams, with each group tasked to design, train and deploy its own model program. 

“Right now, it’s just in the idea stage,” Anzalone said during an interview the day after the school board meeting. “But the only cost for this would be the purchase of the computers. The development software would be open source, which costs nothing.” 

Under the plan, each team would link five Mac Mini computers together in a series to pool their processing power, effectively creating a low-cost “supercomputer” capable of handling complex machine learning tasks. 

Keeping the machines offline could be a priority, he said. 

“That way it would have a more personal, individual touch from the students that develop the model instead of some homogenized grouping of online information.” 

Superintendent Joshua Garrett said he sees the potential for students. 

“A thoughtful proposal has been brought forward, and while no decision has been made, I am excited that we are having this conversation in Wrangell,” he said.

“Artificial intelligence is shaping the world our students are growing up in, and we want them to be more than users of these tools. We want them to understand them, build with them, and imagine what they might create.”

The curriculum would run on structured milestones, requiring students to guide their programs through defined research and technical phases. 

“I want this to be something where the kids will know there are specific goals that have certain timelines,” Anzalone said. 

The program could debut either as an extracurricular club or an elective course offered during the regular school day. 

In his report to the board, he emphasized that the program aims to equip students with practical skills in a rapidly evolving technological landscape. 

“The goal is to give students genuine, hands-on experience with AI that they could point to when applying to college or entering the job market, in an area of technology that is becoming increasingly important to both,” Anzalone said.

“No funding or costs have been finalized; this is presented simply as a direction we are considering for the future.” 

Garrett added that district leaders are constantly seeking ways to leverage emerging technology to prepare students for the future, regardless of school size.

“Small schools can do big things,” he said, “and Wrangell students deserve every opportunity we can open for them.”

Before students can begin writing code, the district would need to secure funding for the hardware. Linking multiple units requires specific computer models equipped with higher-end data transfer capabilities, making them somewhat more costly than standard desktop units. 

A Mac Mini for AI work can run $2,000 or more each.

Anzalone pointed out that commercial artificial intelligence tools are transforming business and public operations worldwide. 

“This would definitely be something that would give our kids an advantage,” he said.

Beyond the classroom, Anzalone envisions residents and area organizations participating by submitting real-world challenges for the student models to tackle. 

“I want to see the models be forced to deal with real problems and come up with real solutions,” he said. “And I would like the community to see that same thing. There is a lot of distrust surrounding AI right now, and I think this could maybe help change that.”