Digital Shifts
The 2025-2026 school year at Marist wasn’t just a collection of lessons and varsity games; it was a year defined by a rapid shift in how people navigate education. As the final bells ring, digital innovation leaves a mark on a collective experience.
This year brought a new level of self discipline with Apple Classroom, a way teachers could ensure students remain on task. It allows teachers to see what students are doing on their iPads in real time.
“It helped me focus more and it guided me through school, because I know that I can’t go on anything other than what I’m supposed to be working on, or else, I’ll get detention or just be in trouble,” said junior Emily Bulvan.
The other big technology change will happen next year. Marist announced a new iPad policy. This August, incoming freshmen will receive iPads programmed and purchased through the school. This is an effort to curb student usage of games and apps not related to school during class time.
AI: From Trend to Tool
AI has gained a tremendous amount of popularity over the 2025-2026 school.
“It exploded this year. It really did. All of a sudden, one occasional use of chat GPT, turned into every single student using it and relying on it in varying degrees of dependence,” said journalism teacher Susan Carlson.
During the beginning of the year, AI was viewed as new and different. Students started experimenting with the new technology.
“It started off with occasional or minimal use of Chat GPT,” said Carlson.
Within months, everything changed.
“I think AI has grown an insane amount. I know kids who pay for Chat GPT premium,” said junior Kailynn Solis.
“Having kind of gone through this year, the surprising amount of students who will just kind of, like, take the assignment on Canvas, not really look at it and just upload it to AI, tell it to answer the questions, download it, post it, and then swipe it off of their to-do list,” said English teacher Matthew Sinacore.
In some cases, AI use has led to disciplinary action.
“I think in some cases they’ve gone too far with it, and the concern is that students are using it as a crutch, and the whole goal of high school here at Marist is to prepare you for college,” said Carlson. “There are AI detection systems, and they flag something if there’s a lot of copy and pasting, or if something sounds like it was automatically generated, it will give you a red flag, and it’ll give a percentage.”
“There are certain very advanced dramatical things that AI tends to use that students have no idea how to use, so it’s usually a pretty dead giveaway,” said Sinacore. “ There’s actually a lot of little tells that AI is being used.”
Students aren’t the only ones using the new technology. Teachers have been also giving it a shot.
“I’ve been experimenting with AI applications in grading, and it will hallucinate and give me students I don’t even have, and give me grades for them. That’s kind of creepy when you think about it,” said Carlson.
On the other hand, Sinacore had success with AI to create tools for his students.
“I generate study guides….material to help supplement the learning,” said Sinacore.
Carlson believes AI will eventually become beneficial in schools.
“AI will find its place in school, but that hasn’t happened yet,” said Carlson.
Small Steps Creating Big Impacts
The Green Team and engineers worked on making Marist more ecological during the 2025-2026 school year.
Director of Buildings and Grounds David Waterman oversaw a solar project to make Marist more energy efficient, installing solar panels on the school’s roof.
“It’ll teach our students about the importance of renewable energy,” said Waterman. “They’ll save us money, give us real time data for our classes, and help us move towards a more environmentally healthy future.”
Also, the Green Team worked with administration to create a healthier environment.
“We made a lot of progress to increase the amount of compostable, consumable products we use,” said Moderator Brigid Wolf. “The soup cups and silverware are all compostable.”
The team is responsible for agricultural work.
“We maintain the gardens here, the one that’s by the Labyrinth, Mary statue, and the Breezeway,” says Wolf.
They held two events where girls gave and received dresses, just in time for senior prom and the junior spring dance.
“We had lots of donations, and had students come and pick out dresses for free, which was a lot of fun,” says Wolf.
The team is happy with their overall efforts this school year, and expect more accomplishments in the future.
