The foundation of engineering lays on the education of computer science in classrooms, while the foundations of Randall has gained a new achievement as being accepted in the Amazon Future Engineers Program.

The program allows students from kindergarten through high school to follow the path of computer science education and opening up internship opportunities down the road. Corina Srygley, RHS computer science and math teacher, researched the program and applied.

“I received an email about the opportunity and applied for it,” Srygley said. “After that, Mr. Singleton and I had a phone interview with an Amazon Future Engineer representative. We received word a few weeks later that we had been accepted to the program.”

The program will go into effect in the next school year starting with the high school.

“The Amazon Future Engineer program provides funding for Computer Science Courses offered through AWS Educate and Edhesive,” Srygley said. “This will help provide the funding we need for high-quality Computer Science curriculum. We will also have the opportunity to have Amazon Engineers come in as guest speakers. This gives our students at Randall opportunities to hear from computer science engineers in the field so they will know what to expect if they pursue a career in this field.”

The program awards 100 students with four-year $10,000 annual scholarships, as well as internships at Amazon to gain work experience. To qualify, students must come from underserved communities and must also be pursuing a degree in computer science. 

The program will help expand education in an area that is wanted by big companies and give opportunities for the education environment to expand.

“I believe when companies are willing to help fund programs for schools that will help build the type of employees they desire, we all win,” Srygley said. “As educators, we are better able to understand how to prepare our students for the workforce they will be encountering when they leave us and receive the funding we need. Our students are better prepared to enter their field of interest and companies are helping to grow the employees they desire. Hopefully, this will prove successful and more companies will be willing to invest in the futures of our students.”