Machine Learning Club

A student-run club at Franklin High School, founded in September 2026. We meet once a week to study the theory behind machine learning. Members learn the programming side on their own, using notebooks the club hosts.

About

Meetings cover the ideas behind machine learning: how a model learns from data, how to evaluate it, and where it goes wrong.

Python, NumPy, pandas and Matplotlib are self-study. Every member gets a Python environment in the browser with the lesson notebooks already loaded, so there is nothing to install.

Members who want to go further can join a project team or a competition team.

def descent(x=2.55, y=2.45, lr=0.07, momentum=0.72):
    """Gradient descent with momentum. Returns every point it visits."""
    vx, vy = 0.0, 0.0
    path = [(x, y)]
    for _ in range(200):
        gx, gy = gradient(loss, x, y)
        vx = momentum * vx - lr * gx
        vy = momentum * vy - lr * gy
        x, y = x + vx, y + vy
        path.append((x, y))
        if math.hypot(vx, vy) < 0.02:  # steps are too small to see
            break
    return path

Meetings

Officers

The club is run by students. Clayton Dagler is the faculty advisor.

Joining

Any student at Franklin High School can join. The club is aimed at students in the computer science pathway, but that isn’t required. Come to a meeting, or email frhsmachinelearning@gmail.com first.

Members log in to the notebooks at frhsml.org/hub/login. The passphrase is handed out at meetings.

Sponsorship

We’re looking for companies willing to support the club with funding, software credits, speakers, or prizes. See Sponsorship for details.