Amazon Future Engineers Course Coming to Vincent
Vincent Middle School is pleased to announce that it has been selected as an Amazon Future Engineer (AFE) school - a partnership between Amazon and Project STEM to improve access to computer science education in communities currently underrepresented in the technology field.
"Not only through the pandemic, but all the things that are out there as far as future jobs for our students are transitioning to technology," stated Vincent Principal Shyulanda Randle-Filer. "I’m looking forward to working with our students at Vincent. I want them to compete in society and have the knowledge and education to do so globally."
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, by 2020, there will be 1.4 million computer science-related jobs available and only 400,000 computer science graduates with the skills to apply for those jobs. Many students eager to fill that gap and obtain a high-paying job in technology do not have access to computer science in their middle and high schools. Often schools want to offer these courses to their students but do not have access to curriculum and/or teacher support materials.
Amazon and Project STEM are partnering to address this gap by sponsoring teachers and administrators who demonstrate this need and are committed to bringing computer science to their school with access to content such as: CS Explorations 1: Fundamentals in Scratch, Computer Science Fundamentals, AP Computer Science Principles, or AP Computer Science A courses. This content includes a fully sequenced and paced digital curriculum for students and professional development for educators new to learning or teaching computer science. Interested schools can learn more at www.amazonfutureegineer.com, including how students can access college scholarships and internships at Amazon. Preparation has already begun. Vincent teacher Dezlun Washington is the school's new Amazon teacher for the 2021-22 school year.
"Mr. Washington is a dynamic teacher. Currently, he is teaching English on our campus," said Randle-Filer. "He is taking three coding courses right now to prepare for next year, so we are excited about this for our students."
"I am really excited for the opportunity," said Washington. "This is great for the students and myself, just from the sheer amount that I will learn and the number of opportunities that will open up for our students is amazing. Since I started in the District, I said we needed to have more technology courses, and this is a great start."
Nearly 200 students will start next year with computer science and the fundamentals in Scratch, which is designed to build students' problem solving, communication and collaboration skills. The same students will have the opportunity to participate in a robotics club after school. Every year, the campus will add an additional class through Amazon and increase its student offerings.
"We hope through offering the course that our students will have a passion and a love for learning," said Washington. "It doesn't have to be that they leave the class loving technology or coding, but it is something they can learn, enjoy and have passion for and use that passion to build their future."