Golden Valley High School and the Amazon Future Engineer program announced Tuesday they will continue their partnership into the 2019-20 school year.
Last year, Golden Valley AP computer science teacher Charity Evans applied for partnership with the program because she saw it as an opportunity to help the blossoming computer science classes at her school.
“This is nice because (the Amazon program) gives us an opportunity to give our students exposure to people in computer science when they wouldn’t have this kind of access in their everyday life,” Evans said.
The program, according to Evans, provides professional development courses for teachers and invites Amazon computer scientists to come and speak with students about their respective fields. Additionally, it works to give students opportunities to apply for scholarships while they’re still in high school.
“The students in the computer science classes (at Golden Valley) qualify to apply for a grant for $10,000 for each year in college that they’re studying computer science,” Evans said. “So $10,000 for four years, which means they can qualify for $40,000 in grants.”
Additionally, the Amazon partnership will give students the rare opportunity of not only seeing an Amazon distribution center on a class field trip, but also allows them to potentially apply for computer science internships with the company once they’re enrolled in their freshman or sophomore years of college.
“It’s great cause, even after they leave Golden Valley. The program continues on for the students,” Evans said. “And next year, we’re looking to provide (students) with the first Golden Valley trip to one of the regional distribution centers.”
The things learned on the trips and at Golden Valley are all possible and practical for students, according to Evans, because of the school’s commitment to the two new classes being offered on campus: computer principles and AP computer science.
“These classes can be taken either as an elective or for the practical arts requirement for graduation,” Evans said. “They’re a part of our ‘Career Pathways’ program, which means students can work to add a networking, computer science or video game design pathway (certification) to their diploma when they graduate.”
For more information about the Golden Valley computer science Career Pathways program and how to take advantage of the Amazon Future Engineers program, visit the school’s website at www.goldenvalleyhs.org.
