Amazon and Esperanza hosted a special ceremony to celebrate one of Philly’s first classes of Amazon Future Engineer graduates at Esperanza Academy Charter High School on Tuesday, May 28 at 1 p.m.
Esperanza Academy is part of more than 1,000 high schools across all 50 states – and 85 high schools in Philly – that are now teaching AP Computer Science thanks to AmazonFuture Engineer – a comprehensive childhood-to-career program designed to inspire, educate and train students from underserved communities to pursue careers in computer science.
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. Research shows that students from underprivileged backgrounds are 8 to 10 times more likely to pursue college degrees in computer science if they have taken AP computer science in high school.
Esperanza Academy has been serving the young members of the North Philadelphia community for 18 years. The school started in the single hallway of a converted warehouse in 2000 and has grown into a multi-school campus. Enrollment has likewise expanded from an original freshmen class of less than 200 to a student body of nearly 2,000 in grades 6 through 12.