Preparing Cadets for the Age of AI Transformation
In partnership with Northern Illinois University, Marmion is bringing college-level artificial intelligence and cybersecurity education into the curriculum.
Young people today will live and work in a future utterly transformed by artificial intelligence. To meet this new reality, Marmion Academy is positioning itself at the forefront of AI education so Cadets will be able to ride the AI wave, not be pummeled by it.
That’s why Marmion is serving as a pilot site for NIU’s Secure-AI curriculum, which introduces high school students to artificial intelligence and cybersecurity through hands-on lessons and coding exercises. The goal is to move students beyond simply using AI tools and toward understanding the systems behind them.
Dr. Cansu Tatar, the NIU researcher leading the project, says that deeper understanding is increasingly important as AI becomes embedded in everyday life. “Students are already interacting with AI through social media, recommendation systems, and many of the tools they use,” she said. “But an important question is how these systems are trained and what information they collect. We want students to understand what’s happening behind the scenes so they’re not just passive users.”
The curriculum pairs artificial intelligence with cybersecurity concepts such as encryption, digital identity, and data protection. Across six instructional modules, students explore how algorithms are trained, how systems can be vulnerable to misuse or bias, and how security measures protect sensitive information.
For Dr. Lei Zhang, an NIU professor who helped teach the course, the most important element is the program’s hands-on design. “We’re not just giving lectures about what AI or cybersecurity is,” he said. “Marmion students are actually coding and learning how these systems work from the inside.”
Students say the course changed how they think about the technology they use every day.
“AI is such a powerful tool,” said sophomore Greyson Robinson. “It can do a lot of great things, but it can also be used in ways that raise questions. It’s exciting to see how far technology can advance, but it also makes you think about where it’s going.”
Junior Eric Saucedo said the class also helped students think more critically about the tools they rely on for research and assignments. “AI is helpful, but a lot of people use it just to get answers quickly without really thinking about the meaning behind the information,” he said. “This class helped explain what’s actually happening with AI.”
For educators involved in the project, that awareness is the point. As artificial intelligence continues to evolve, the goal is not only to teach technical skills but also to encourage thoughtful engagement with the technology.
By introducing students to both the possibilities and responsibilities of AI, the program aims to prepare Marmion students for a future in which these technologies will shape nearly every field.
