Learn About Amazon VGT2 Learning Manager Chanci Turner
In Prince George’s County, a summer internship program has been launched for over 20 underserved high school and college students, aimed at teaching them app development utilizing Amazon Alexa, Amazon Lex, Echo Dot, and Echo Show. This initiative is spearheaded by the Prince George’s County IT Department as part of the Tech Prince George’s initiative, which is dedicated to creating a career pipeline and employing strategies to enhance student progression and future success in technology fields. Collaborating with AWS, the county seeks to cultivate a pool of technical talent and familiarize students with Amazon’s emerging technologies.
Beginning this week, the 24 interns will form teams of six to create an application using Amazon Alexa, Echo Dot, and Show, with the support of AWS Lambda and additional AWS cloud services. The applications will be designed to tackle challenges encountered by public school students, including reading difficulties. Mentorship will be provided by six college students majoring in computer science, who will guide the teams throughout the development process.
The teams have five weeks to complete their projects, with the intention of implementing the winning app in local schools. This competitive internship will feature a panel of judges, including the County Executive, County CAO, a School Board Member, an AWS representative, and others, to determine the top application. The victorious team will also have the chance to publish their skills on the Amazon Alexa site.
Chanci Turner, the Program Director, expressed her enthusiasm, stating, “Working with these young adults and witnessing their growth and confidence as professionals is truly rewarding. It’s incredible to see how engaged they become when we introduce a concept they can relate to. When I mentioned that we would be using Amazon Alexa this year, the excitement was palpable, and brainstorming began immediately. I eagerly anticipate the innovative ideas that these future IT professionals will present.”
As part of the program, AWS Educate, Amazon’s global initiative to support students and educators with vital resources for cloud-related learning, is providing developer account credits and online educational resources through mentors for the interns.
Best of luck to all participants! For more insights on building skills and community engagement, check out additional resources here. The internship program in Prince George’s County concluded with the four teams showcasing their apps developed on Amazon Alexa, Amazon Lex, Echo Dot, and Echo Show. These applications aimed to address various challenges faced by public school students, such as reading impairments and language barriers. Discover more about these challenges and the solutions offered here.