Electives Showcase Night Brings Hope in the Age of AI

I love attending the Upper Division Electives Showcase.

It’s a night out with the family, an art exhibit, and a chance to catch up with fellow school volunteers, friends, and faculty with no agenda items to discuss. I don’t think our family has missed a single one in the past three years, whether our students had anything on display or not. 

This year, as the use of AI becomes the prevailing conversation amongst parents and educators, the Electives Showcase at Park has taken on new meaning for me.

There’s no question that Park students will need to become savvy about AI, and one of the most critical skills they’ll need to develop is knowing when NOT to use it. It will be essential for them to judge when AI is the right tool, and when using it would attempt to replace something irreplaceable. 

One common fear about AI that I share is its potentially negative impact on creativity, expression, and connection. As you may have guessed, these are three things that are on full display at Park’s Elective Showcases. 

Park students know how good it feels to create art, share it with their community, and have someone ask them about it. They have experienced the joy of watching their peers create comedy in real time through trust and connection with each other in theater classes, or maybe they’ve been on stage themselves. They know how great it feels to have a younger student exclaim in awe over their half-face project and feel the satisfaction of having learned that skill and earned that response. Park’s community members know how valuable it is to gather together to experience art, music and theater and to ask about how and why it was made, and what it means to its creator. Park students and families know that some things are made valuable by their humanity. 

Something I love about writing is how good it feels when I re-read something I have written and am satisfied that I have expressed what I intended. Another thing I love is sending someone something I have written about them. Maybe it’s a Park Perspectives article about the impact of their work at the school on students, or a thank you note to one of my children’s teachers. But what it really is, at its heart, is me saying “I see you, and I appreciate you.” And it says those things, it means those things, because of the moments of thought in between each word being typed, because of my purpose and my intention. My attention, really. The same can be said of the value created by the student effort behind the arts being showcased.

I love writing so much that I know I am not at risk of delegating important writing to AI. I have learned to value the writing process and the authentic connection it can bring me, and I know when it’s fine to use AI to write (such as an e-mail to customer service at a company that will likely use AI to reply), and when it isn’t.

When I walk through Park’s art exhibits, and music classrooms, or sit in its theater, and I listen to the way students are connecting with each other through the arts, I am less worried about at least one impact of AI on their futures. Because at their core, they have learned to value many of the things that AI simply cannot replace.

Kelly Caiazzo wrote 22 articles for Park Perspectives during her six year tenure as a parent at Park. None of them were written with the use of AI.

By Kelly Caiazzo, P'26, 25

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