November 4th, 2021

Joseph Friday
Student Journalist/TCS Public Relations

(TCS) - Hewitt-Trussville High School’s (HTHS) very own Sarah “Elizabeth” Self was selected for the Mark Cuban Foundation Artificial Intelligence (AI) Bootcamp which took place in Birmingham on October 23.

At the Birmingham camp, students like Self showcased their expertise within computer sciences to create, explore, and change the world through the parameters of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Self, along with other HTHS students, were invited to participate in this experience including freshmen Ivanna Martinez and Stuart Nelson.  All three students are involved in computer science to some degree at HTHS.  Self’s teacher, Mrs. Erin Elseroad, welcomes the outside opportunities provided to these students.

“Sarah really enjoyed her weekends at the camp, and actually discovered her fellow students (Martinez and Nelson) while at camp,” Elseroad said.  “The students enjoyed their experiences through tasks, and virtual speakers, with one being Mr. Cuban himself.”

These three Hewitt-Trussville students along with the rest of the students at the Mark Cuban AI Bootcamp had three Saturdays to expand their minds, employ problem-solving skills, and use creativity to explore and find the future involving AI in the modern world. 

The Mark Cuban AI Bootcamp provides students with the opportunity to learn about what artificial intelligence is, and is not. They are tasked with learning how the implications of artificial intelligence affects their daily lives. For example, artificial intelligence is in the phones of the students, behind the process of predicting sales, self-driving cars, and facial recognition. Students had the opportunity to create their own AI through the use of Microsoft software. 

This camp, founded in 2019 by Mark Cuban, has hosted numerous camps throughout the United States including some major cities like Dallas, El Paso, Green Bay, and Detroit. Its founder, Mark Cuban, is an American entrepreneur who famously serves as a “shark” in ABC’s competitive reality show “Shark Tank.”  His main initiative is to have over a thousand students attend - and graduate from - these boot camps each year, starting in 2023. 

Self, Martinez, and Nelson have now been added to the long and illustrious list of students who can now be considered “graduates” of the Mark Cuban AI Bootcamp.  See more about the Mark Cuban AI Bootcamp on its official website.