Funds encourage teens to pursue career in technology
By KEVIN BRADY
Local schools can expect a $10,000 windfall to promote training and education for high-tech jobs of the future if the county School Board votes to accept a grant from Amazon.
Hillsborough County is one of 100 school districts nationwide that are included in the Amazon Future Engineer Robotics Grant program.
Each of the 100 school districts across 21 states will receive a $10,000 grant to support the launch of its robotics team, including teacher professional development to learn about robotics and $10,000 from Amazon to expand access to computer science education in the school. Students will also have a chance to tour TPA1, the local Amazon fulfillment center in Ruskin. The 1.1-million-square-foot facility employs 3,500 people.
School officials are currently reviewing the grant with a memo of understanding expected to be signed next month.
“Robotics and technology training is critical for students,” says Libby Simpson, supervisor of career and technical education for Hillsborough County Schools.
“These programs are extremely important (for students),” said Simpson, who oversees the county’s engineering and robotics programs. “It is one of the fastest-growing and in-demand fields in the country and in our area. Robotics and engineering covers high-tech manufacturing, as well as careers in computer science and information technology.”
She added that robotics and engineering are fun for students, “but then when you look at the careers connected to it, it’s a whole big broad world of careers kids get out of participating in (those programs).”
Schools offer training in robotics during classes in middle and high schools, along with after-school programs like the Robotics program at Lennard High School.
“What they have going on at Lennard is fantastic and, hopefully, we can see that expand in the future,” Simpson said.
Proposals to increase funding for career and technical education, robotics programs in particular, are currently under consideration in Tallahassee.
“(Increased funding) is extremely important and that would include getting the business partnerships involved in our schools and that would include in-kind donations, funding and involvement in the school itself to provide students with job opportunities, teachers with job shadowing so they can see what the skills are that are being utilized in careers right now.”
With computer science one of the fastest growing professions in the nation, the federal 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.
Launched in November 2018, Amazon Future Engineer is a four-part childhood-to-career program, intended to inspire, educate, and prepare children and young adults from underrepresented and underserved communities to pursue careers in the fast-growing field of computer science.
Hillsborough County was singled out for the grant because Amazon wants to encourage more students who might, otherwise, not choose robotics and technology as a career path, said Alison Flicker, a company spokesperson.
“We want to make sure that students from underserved communities have the resources and skills in the computer science and coding fields to determine if this is something they want to pursue. The jobs in this field are rewarding, interesting and high-paying, so we want to make sure more students are getting access to this type of education,” Flicker said.
In addition to targeting school districts with underserved communities, Amazon wanted to help fan the flame of interest in robotics. “We wanted to bring it to schools that were already excited about bringing it to their students; that it was something that they wanted,” Flicker said.
