Two Alexandria City High School seniors got a surprise today (Friday) when they were awarded $40,000 Amazon Future Engineers scholarships.
Seniors Zhi McMillan and Mohammad Elyas Noorzai received the scholarships as well as internship opportunities with the multinational technology company. The awards were presented by 2022 scholarship recipient Sai Naraharisetti, who will start work as an Amazon software engineer in Seattle after graduating next year.
“It has completely transformed my life,” Naraharisetti said of the scholarship. “The people that I’ve met through this scholarship and in this community are some of the best people ever.”
The program “provides students with an opportunity to upgrade their careers with up to $40,000 in scholarships (up to $10,000/year) and a paid internship at Amazon following their freshman year,” according to Amazon. The latest scholarships were announced three months after the Jan. 9 application deadline.
McMillan has not yet been accepted to college but says he wants to focus on software engineering with the long-term goal of helping shape artificial intelligence policy.
“It’s an honor,” McMillan said after receiving the scholarship. “I’m hoping to get a background in some work experience in AI software engineering.”
Noorzai emigrated to Alexandria from Kabul, Afghanistan, in 2021. He’s been accepted to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and hopes to study robotics and programming.
“I just like to build things in a program and bring ideas to life,” Noorzai said. “Looking beyond college, I want to secure a good job in tech, and then hopefully start my own startup someday.”
Noorzai’s father, Yahya Noorzai, is an aircraft engineer who said his son has made him proud.
“He’s always brought honor and happiness and lots of joy,” Yahya Noorzai said of his son. “I’m very proud of his diligence and obedience, because he always accepts my advice and he takes it seriously. I taught him, ‘Son, you should not abuse your life. You should use your minutes of your life in very positive ways.'”
