DC Computer Science Teacher Receives $50K Award From Amazon

WASHINGTON, DC — Lynn Garnaat will tell you that her experience in the final weeks of the 2020 school year was pretty much the same as any other educator in the District dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.

"We work really hard at KIPP to give students everything they need to be successful," said Garnaat, a computer science teacher at KIPP DC College Prep High School in Northeast. "When you have students doing work from home, we did what we could, we sent home Chromebooks with every student, but I had multiple students who had internet issues and couldn't do schoolwork for a week or more."

Some students were juggling full-time jobs or helping to take care of family members while they tried to stay on top of their schoolwork.

"School is kind of a safe space where they can just kind of get to be students," Garnaat said. "But when they're doing work from home, they've got so many other things to work on. Most teachers would tell you that it's been challenging and eyeopening, but we're doing what we can."

The experience has served as a reminder for Garnaat on how resilient and incredible her students are.

"Some of them are working 40 hours a week, and yet they're waking up early to call me for help on their device," she said.

Garnaat teaches two advanced placement-level computer science classes for high school students at KIPP. She's also one of the mentors for the school's robotics team. Located in Northeast D.C., KIPP draws students from all around the District and many of them have attended the school for their entire academic career.

Now that it's summer, you'd think Garnaat wouldn't be thinking so much about the new school year. But, thanks to Amazon, she's got plenty of reasons — 50,000 to be exact — to make plans for her students this fall.

In June, Garnaat was named a 2020 Amazon Future Engineer Teacher of the Year Award recipient. She received a prize package for KIPP valued at $50,000, including $25,000 for the school and another $25,00 for school supplies.

Garnaat had filled out the application for the award months ago and forgotten about. She only remembered it when her fellow robotics coach, Alice Li, tricked her into thinking she was dropping off coffee one morning. Instead, she turned up with an Amazon box full of supplies, a film crew, and the award.

"I was speechless," Garnaat said. "It's not the most exciting video, because I just couldn't believe that we are actually getting this award, and that I'm going to have the opportunity to share this with my students."

As part of the prize, Amazon is giving KIPP Amazon Fire HD 8 Tablets, classroom essentials from AmazonBasics, and other items from Amazon Essentials. Garnaat also received a full-year of Amazon Music Unlimited and a 12-month Audible.com Gold Gift Membership.

“I was elated to see Ms. Garnaat receive this award," KIPP Principal Andhra Lutz said, in an Amazon release. "Her leadership has inspired numerous students to pursue STEM careers. This funding will help improve our computer science programming and ultimately diversify the computer science and engineering fields.”

One of the things Garnaat highlighted in her application was that the number of students taking AP classes in the District is comparatively small, especially when considering the number of Black students taking AP computer science.

"In the three years that I've been at my school, our AP computer science program has grown from nine students in my very first class, to we're going to have over 100 students in AP computer science next year," she said. "A huge portion of the students in D.C. that are taking the exam are coming from my school."

No decision yet has been made on what supplies KIPP will be purchasing, although Amazon suggested Fire tables for students to use. These would be helpful if remote learning continues in the fall.

"That would be a great tool," Garnaat said. "Kids could hop on a video class, while still using their computer to work."

Garnaat hopes to use some of the money to help make her classroom a space that serves both her computer science classes and the robotics team.

"We've just been hiding our robot in a box under a table," Garnet said. "Getting some storage space and some workspace for the team, so that they don't have to keep moving computers from class in order to make space for them."

Most of the robotics team is made up of students in Garnaat's AP computer science class. Students build small robots to compete against other teams in the FIRST Tech Challenge. This tests their ability to solve problems and work collaboratively.

"In robotics, because there are game elements, students are motivated to try new things, test it out as they go," Garnaat said. "They can see that development process in person with a physical object as opposed to just on a computer."