The Coeur d’Alene Regional Chamber of Commerce is consistently striving to be an innovative leader for the surrounding community. Part of my role while working alongside many great people at the CdA Chamber involved researching creative ways to continue their mission of being a driving force for community support. This research led to a handful of ideas that I ultimately presented to the Chamber Executive Board for consideration.

During this research & creation of presentation, I reached out to Chambers of Commerce around the country, I met with business and community leaders, I worked with university leaders, and as mentioned, I worked with some awesome people directly at the CdA Chamber. Every one of these professionals gave me insights from their fields and backgrounds that helped me to gather and aggregate data, build executive summaries, use AI efficiently, and make lasting connections, among many other benefits.

In regard to the use of AI in the classroom, I have been leaning very hard on the spectrum in resisting its use. I still lean toward “proceed with caution”, however I also realize I am not actively educating myself on the potential uses of AI. I was given many opportunities to use AI to guide the research and development of my presentations, creation of surveys, etc. during my time with the CdA Chamber, and I see the benefit of using AI as an efficiency tool. I am beginning to imagine how it could be used in the math classroom. I still lean toward “proceed with caution” because students still need to understand how to be critical thinkers when evaluating their choices and the resulting outcomes; however, I am open to further PD in regard to using AI in the classroom. After all, it isn’t going away; that’s for sure!

In closing, my two biggest takeaways from working with the CdA Regional Chamber of Commerce really aren’t related to my day-to-day externship work at all. I have had a door open to using AI, and I have some great connections with area leaders who are so open to supporting my work in the classroom.

Grade Level and Subject Taught: 8th Grade Math