Lauren Figy, Supervisor of Science Technology and Engineering, Westfield Public Schools. (Photo submitted)
WESTFIELD – Westfield High School is now part of the Amazon Future Engineer program and will receive curriculum from Amazon to increase our computer science class offerings to students this fall. Westfield High School is one of more than 1,000 high schools across the country currently signed up for Amazon Future Engineer, a national program aimed at making computer science accessible to all students.
With Amazon Future Engineers curriculum, valued at $33,000, Westfield High School will offer Introduction to Computer Science and Advanced Placement (AP) Computer Science classes through the Edhesive platform. Amazon’s curriculum provides preparatory lessons, tutorials, and professional development for teachers, fully sequenced and paced digital curriculum for students, and live online support every day of the week for both teachers and students. These full-year courses are designed to inspire, prepare, and propel students in their pursuit of computer science education. All students participating in this program will receive a free membership to Amazon Web Services (AWS) Educate, which provides them with free access to computing power in the AWS Cloud for their coding projects and content to learn about cloud computing.
“We are excited to give our students this opportunity as they prepare to apply to college and build the skills for a rewarding career in technology and engineering,” said Lauren Figy, Supervisor of Science Technology and Engineering, Westfield Public Schools.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that 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. Computer science is the fastest growing profession within the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) field, but only 8% of STEM graduates earn a computer science degree.
Each year, Amazon Future Engineer aims to inspire more than 10 million students to explore computer science; provide over 100,000 young people in over 2,000 high schools access to Introduction and AP Computer Science courses; award 100 students with four-year $10,000 scholarships, as well as offer guaranteed and paid Amazon internships to gain work experience. Amazon Future Engineer is part of Amazon’s $50 million investment in computer science/STEM education. In addition, Amazon Future Engineer has donated more than $10 million to organizations that promote computer science/STEM education across the country.
