West Springfield High School students Laylah Debian and Syeda Nasir participate in the Presidential A.I Challenge. Hoping to earn some recognition for their computer club, the students created their own artificial intelligence website and uploaded it to join the nation-wide competition lead by the White House, President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump. In joining the Presidential A.I Challenge, Laylah and Syeda created a passion project that integrated Artificial Intelligence into the larger West Springfield community. Their intent was to show how A.I. could benefit the community of West Springfield.
Laylah and Syeda believe the digital landscape is becoming an everyday part of our lives and yet they noticed that “some individuals are afraid to develop with technology, only choosing to view the negative possibilities of it.” So, when they learned about the Presidential A.I. Challenge through social media, they were excited at the prospect of working with A. I. as a means to benefit their community. And because West Springfield is the third most diverse district in Massachusetts, they purposely chose a concept that would celebrate the community’s diversity and make its citizens aware of all that West Springfield has to offer. The result was a community website called West Springfield Connect.
The website highlights fun events taking place across the community, from summer reading contests at the West Springfield Public Library to Food Truck Fridays in the town commons during the fall. The website borrows information from various community websites and alerts community members with notifications of daily events happening in town. Laylah and Syeda created the website with an HTML code; the website also has extra features implemented in its design in order to represent the diverse demographics of the community.
The additional features filter upcoming events according to age group (0-10 years old, 11-14 years old, 15-18 years old, 19-60 years old, 60+ years old), school level (Elementary, Middle, or High School), and location (Town Parks, School, Fire Department, or Overall Community). These filters help to make the website user friendly. Laylah and Syeda believe the website’s “most important” feature, however, is the language filter. And because there are 25 different languages spoken in town, the website collaborated with Google Translate to translate its text into the user’s desired language with just a click. The students see it as a straight-forward tool to get information, a sort of a “hub” that encourages community members “to go to these events and have a good time no matter your race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, etc.” Overall, this website helps the user learn more about what events and activities West Springfield offers within the town, promotes small-businesses, and encourages fun and unique ways to engage in the community.
Although Laylah and Syeda’s West Springfield Connect did not make it to the state level, their website earned them recognition at the Western Mass level of the competition where they received certificates for their efforts and dedication to their community. The experience allowed them the chance to “try out technology” and create an educational and unifying tool that exemplifies how A.I. should be used. Laylah and Syeda would like to thank the computer science department for the opportunity to participate in the competition. And they would like to encourage their fellow classmates to “create whatever they put their minds to,” one piece of code at a time.
