Of all the new classes added to Wayzata High School this year, AI’s Impact on Sports and Business definitely captures the attention of an audience. With AI continuously progressing and the uses of it multiplying by the day, this class teaches students about it in all aspects.

The class emphasizes exploration of AI’s application in business and sports through activities using its tools and models.

The curriculum for the class developed through coordination with the University of Michigan AI department, as well as that University of St. Thomas.

Mr. Hamre, who teaches the course, reflects, “We needed some form of a class about AI where students from other spectrums of the computer science field could see [its impact], whether it’s in sports and business, or in their daily life.”

The process of the class’ creation included mostly interviews with professors that teach AI related courses at college campuses and around the world. The business department at Wayzata then looked into what material that they had seen in the college classes pertained to high school students.

Through this research, the class became impactful in teaching an increasingly current topic in the lives of students.

A student in the class, Mridula Rajaprathap, says, “The highlight of it so far would probably be just learning how AI can connect to you personally… It relates to us so much in sports and business and we’ve learned how we can use AI to our advantage as well.”

The class has been highly sought after by students since its debut. Mr. Hamre and the other business teachers established connections with around six hundred students right away to see if they would take the class, and they ended up with over two sections full for the rest of the year.

“There is a lot of interaction between different people from different areas in life. We have a lot of athletes, we have a lot of people who are strictly in the computer science field, and it’s nice to see a crossover between them and seeing how much AI is actually involved in both of their lives,” Mr. Hamre highlights.

Though it is a new topic and class, it has yielded great results in student interest and participation in just the first year.