TUCSON, Ariz. - Amazon is providing a boost to three local high schools.
The Amazon Future Engineer program is providing technology and resources to Edge High School, Pueblo High Magnet School and Sonoran Science Academy.
The $50 million campaign is reaching 1,000 high schools across the country. More than 700 of those schools are based in underprivileged communities.
The initiative is an effort to prepare students for computer science jobs. According to the Bureau of Labor, by 2020 there will be 1.4 million jobs in the field, but only 400,000 graduates with related degrees to fill them.
“It is so important to ensure that every student in the U.S. has the opportunity to be well-prepared for the highly technical jobs of the present and future,” said Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (Texas), Chair of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, in a statement. “I welcome initiatives such as the Amazon Future Engineer program that can increase opportunities for young people who have too long been underrepresented in STEM jobs due to race, gender, or socioeconomic status. I’d like to offer my congratulations to the schools in Dallas, and across the country, who have taken the lead in working to promote solutions to this issue by increasing access to computer science education.”
For more information on the program, click here.
