Amazon Makes Special Delivery To Seven PGCPS Students: $280K In Scholarships

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD — Seven of the 400 Amazon Future Engineer Scholarship recipients across the country hail from Prince George's County.

Amazon extended a total of $16 million in paid tuition for students who could attend the U.S. college or university of their choice.

On Tuesday, Amazon surprised the seven PGCPS students at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt: Michael Kalkidan, Academy of Health Sciences; Oluwademilade Toluwani, Charles H. Flowers High School; Jayson Kiggundu and Mouhamadou Dieng, DuVal High School; Yeabkal Abeje and Gabrielle Stewart, Eleanor Roosevelt High School; and Nhandi Nyawela, CMIT South.

Through Amazon Future Engineer, each student will receive $40,000 over four years to pursue a degree in computer science or engineering and a paid internship after their freshman year to gain practical work experience with mentorship from Amazon leaders.

"Every year, I continue to be inspired by our scholarship recipients’ academic achievements and drive to use their problem-solving abilities to build solutions for their communities,” said Victor Reinoso, global director of philanthropic education initiatives at Amazon. “With students from historically underrepresented and underserved communities representing only 18 percent of CS bachelor’s degrees, we believe that connecting students to computer science education and opportunities helps create a more equitable and inclusive future, across all industries and sectors, for generations to come."