The Bronx Letters Foundation is proud to announce that high school teacher Mohammad Ahmad has been selected to receive a Future Engineer Teacher of the Year Award from Amazon. Mr. Ahmad is one of only 10 teachers across the country who were chosen out of a candidate pool of thousands. The award prize is valued at over $50,000 for our school and couldn't come at a better time.
Mr. Ahmad has been at BAL for four years and teaches AP Computer Science, Algebra 2, and Arabic to our high schoolers. Said Mr. Ahmad, "It is a privilege to be selected for this award. Growing up, I didn't see many faces like mine in education, whether they were male or a person of color. I grew up in a single-parent, low-income, household. Although my mother got creative and made sure to provide us with resources or alternative resources to broaden our horizons, not all families are as privileged. I started teaching to make an impact on the lives of all students, to be an ally to students of color who often don't see themselves reflected in the staff of their schools, and to try to broaden the horizons of those students who might not have access to the same resources as those from higher income families."
This was Amazon’s first year of the Future Engineer Teacher Award program. According to Amazon, all 10 winners work “diligently to help students in underserved and underrepresented communities build life-changing skills to propel their futures in computer science.”
"Teachers are beloved in communities across the country, and we are excited to celebrate their hard work, passion, and commitment to their students' future success," said Jeff Wilke, CEO, Amazon Worldwide Consumer. "Computer science skills will be of vital importance as we take on and solve the challenges of the future.”
Award recipients were chosen based on a variety of criteria, which included their commitment to promoting diversity and inclusion within computer science education, a recommendation from a school administrator, and compelling, personal anecdotes about their school and students.
Each of the ten award-winning teachers received a prize package valued at over $50,000 to be used to benefit his or her school and students. In addition to the contest’s original $25,000 award, Amazon is donating an additional $25,000 in school supplies, including Amazon Fire HD 8 Tablets, classroom essentials from AmazonBasics, and additional items from Amazon Essentials. In their Amazon Future Engineer swag box, award recipients also received one full year of Amazon Music Unlimited and a 12-month Audible.com Gold Gift Membership. In this inaugural year of the award, Amazon is also recognizing each of the hundreds of applicants with a $200 Amazon gift card to celebrate their hard work on behalf of computer science students across the country.