Cypress Hosts District AI Expo
The North Orange County Community College District (NOCCCD) presented AI Expo 2025: Empowering Minds yesterday on the Cypress College campus. An audience of about 500 students, faculty, staff, and community members visited the campus theater for a keynote address before dispersing to workshops on using artificial intelligence in a variety of capacities.
The event began with networking and lunch, held simultaneously with an AI scavenger hunt and showcase. Introductory remarks in the theater followed from Dr. Christyna Serrano of PlayLab, a sandbox for AI app generation. She also presented later in the day at a workshop on custom chatbots built with the PlayLab platform, which can be tailored to specific audiences and areas of interest.
Other workshops included: AI for Lesson Planning and Accessibility; Exploring Artificial Intelligence: Potentials, Risks, and Ethical Considerations; AI 1010: Introduction to AI Tools; Transforming Education with AI: Insights from UCI’s Award-Winning Platform; Future Focus with Ourmedia: Exploring AI’s Impacts on Education and Careers; and a presentation from Element 451, a CRM tool used by colleges and universities.
The day culminated with a Prompt-A-Thon challenge. During this, participants were put into teams and given three prompts, such as finding solution to campus problems. Each team presented their results and were ranked by judges, with top teams winning gift cards. Other awards were given out for Most Creative Use of AI and AI Enthusiast of the Day.