5 San Diego County Students Awarded $40K STEM Grants From Amazon

SAN DIEGO, CA — Five high school seniors in San Diego County were among the 63 students surprised with STEM grants Monday from the Amazon Future Engineer initiative.

The scholarships, which amount to up to $40,000 over four years, depending on need, will help the students pursue degrees in computer science, engineering, or a similar field of study.

The scholarship initiative began in 2019. There will be more computer science jobs than class of 2024 graduates to fill them in the U.S., according to an Amazon Future Engineer spokesperson.

"In California, there are 37,285 open computing jobs with an average salary of $153,544, yet there are under 9,400 graduates with computer science degrees, and only 45 percent of public high schools currently offer foundational courses," the spokesperson said.

The Amazon Future Engineer Scholarship recipients from San Diego County are:

1. Jazmine Le — Hoover High School, San Diego
2. Angela Magtoto — Bonita Vista High School, Chula Vista
3. Brianna Magtoto — Bonita Vista High School, Chula Vista
4. Trianna Nguyentu — Valhalla High School, El Cajon
5. Gael Vazquez — Eastlake High School, Chula Vista

Across the Golden State, 63 high school students were awarded the 2024 scholarship:

1. Francisco Aguilar — Chowchilla High School, Chowchilla
2. Bhajneek Anand — Sunny Hills High School, Fullerton
3. Abraham Bailon — Alliance Renee & Meyer Luskin College-Ready Academy, Los Angeles
4. Dawit Bonga — Galileo Highschool, San Francisco
5. Luis Cantoran — Maywood Center for Enriched Studies, Maywood
6. Ashlyn Castro — North Hollywood High School, North Hollywood
7. Ami Chung — California Connections Academy, San Juan Capistrano
8. David Chung — Riverside STEM High School, Riverside
9. Miguel Angel Contreras — Rancho San Juan High School, Salinas
10. Alexander Cordova — Valley High School, Santa Ana
11. Fabian Cornejo — Applied Technology Center, Montebello
12. Matthew Cortez Aguilar — James A. Garfield Senior High School, Los Angeles
13. Jeffrey De Leon — Camino Nuevo Charter Academy #2, Los Angeles
14. Alice Dos Santos — Canyon Springs High School, Moreno Valley
15. Funmi Ekiyoyo — PioneerHigh School, Woodland
16. Itzel Fermin Alcala — Cristo Rey San Jose Jesuit High School, San Jose
17. Kimberly Ferreira — Orthopaedic Hospital Medical Magnet High School, Los Angeles
18. Christopher Garcia — Foshay Learning Center, Los Angeles
19. Crystal Garcia — Oak Hills High, Oak Hills
20. Tanvi Goyal — Irvington High School, Fremont
21. Eduardo Guerrero Andres — Norwalk High School, Norwalk
22. Diana Gutierrez Barrera — Castilleja School, Palo Alto
23. Haifa Hamdan — Maywood Center for Enriched Studies, Maywood
24. Carla Hau — San Gabriel High School, San Gabriel
25. Sara Hermosillo — Richmond High School, Richmond
26. Miguel Hernandez — Stella High Charter Academy, Los Angeles
27. Tristan Hoang — Oakland Charter High School, Oakland
28. David Iglesias — Valley View Charter Prep, Tracy
29. Aastha Jain — Newark Memorial High School, Newark
30. Isabel Ku — Glen A Wilson High School, Hacienda Heights
31. Jazmine Le — Hoover High School, San Diego
32. Larry Le — Westminster High School, Westminster
33. Victoria Lee — South Pasadena High School, South Pasadena
34. Natalia Lopez — San Dimas High School, San Dimas
35. Wendy Lopez — South Gate Senior High, South Gate
36. Joshua Lou — Oxford Academy, Cypress
37. Erdaifu Luo — Diamond Bar High, Diamond Bar
38. Angela Magtoto — Bonita Vista High School, Chula Vista
39. Brianna Magtoto — Bonita Vista High School, Chula Vista
40. Mica Malek — California Preparatory Academy, San Juan Capistrano
41. Alexis Melero — Alliance Renee & Meyer Luskin College-Ready Academy, Los Angeles
42. Huy Nguyen — Redwood High School, Visalia
43. Trianna Nguyentu — Valhalla High School, El Cajon
44. Chisom Onuigbo — Troy High School, Fullerton
45. Summer Ortega — Buhach Colony High School, Atwater
46. Lucia Otanez — Fontana High School, Fontana
47. Nancy Park — Los Alamitos High School, Los Alamitos
48. Ian Partida — Chaffey High School, Ontario
49. Cynthia Prieto — Espinoza-San Fernando High School, San Fernando
50. Daniela Ramos — Harmony Magnet Academy, Strathmore
51. Edgar Regino — Westminster High School, Westminster
52. Valeria Ruelas — Harvard-Westlake School, Studio City
53. Ashle Sanchez — Maywood Center for Enriched Studies, Maywood
54. Nicole Szeto — El Camino High School, South San Francisco
55. Mylan Thomas — The Palmdale Aerospace Academy, Palmdale
56. Nashla Turcios — New West Charter School, Los Angeles
57. Miriam Valenzuela — Imperial High School, Imperial
58. Gael Vazquez — Eastlake High School, Chula Vista
59. Raymond Walker II — Great Oak High School, Temecula
60. Rebecca Wang — Henry T Gunderson High School, San Jose
61. Andy Yu — Los Osos High School, Rancho Cucamonga
62. Hakop Zarikyan — Science Academy STEM Magnet, North Hollywood
63. Angela Zheng — Troy High School, Fullerton

Since its inception, the Amazon Future Engineer Scholarship has committed $54 million in scholarships to 1,350 students from underserved and underrepresented communities. The selected candidates are from the Amazon Future Engineer program, Amazon's global philanthropic computer science education initiative. The program aims to increase student access to computer science education.

"The program funds high-quality STEM curriculum and educator professional learning to help school districts implement sustainable K–12 computer science initiatives," according to the Amazon Future Engineer's website.

"As part of this effort, Amazon funds the development of a customized curriculum that accounts for the unique cultural perspectives, interests, and experiences of BLNA students. In addition to the Scholarship program, Amazon Future Engineer offers virtual career tours and project-based learning modules that bring role models to classrooms to help students explore careers of the future through real-world experiences."

The recipients all plan to pursue higher education degrees in computer science, engineering, or a related field, according to a spokesperson for the group. Applications for the program will reopen in the fall of 2024.