Some commentators have suggested that schools aren’t doing enough to pipeline students into tech careers. Amazon Web Services Inc. is trying to change that by bringing the latest cloud computing and real-world problem solving to students long before college.

“One of the big things that we’re trying to do … is bring the new technologies into education,” said Teresa Carlson (pictured, right), vice president of the worldwide public sector at AWS. The computing technology in use at many schools tends to be outdated, and students should be introduced to agile, iterative cloud computing at a younger age to prepare them the real world of technology jobs and entrepreneurship, she said.

One such AWS initiative is called Get IT. It aims to inspire female students in the United Kingdom interested in technology careers by combining cloud computing with social responsibility. It organizes Year 8 students into groups and challenges them to create an application that solves a real problem facing their school or community. The winning idea is then built and maintained by AWS.

Carlson along with Anna Sargeant (pictured, left), computing teacher at Townley Grammar School, and one of her Year 8 students, Charlotte (pictured, center), spoke with Dave Vellante (@dvellante), host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the AWS Summit in London. They discussed the goals of Get IT and AWS’ involvement in early tech education and tech for social good (see the full interview with transcript here). (* Disclosure below.)

AWS ambassadors pump up students’ tech muscle

This year, the Get IT competition featured over 160 applicants. They narrowed them all down to two finalists and a winner at the summit. All participating schools received support from AWS ambassadors.

The emphasis on social responsibility is an excellent gateway into tech for young people, according to Carlson. “Just tech for tech is not exciting, but tech for good is very exciting,” she said.

Sargeant believes Get IT is an important step toward modernizing the computing programs at Townley and other schools. It currently teaches the Python language but wants to move to more modern technologies.

“Perhaps we should look more at cloud technology in greater detail in schools, but we’re kind of a little bit behind in terms of education … and we need to speed that up,” Sargeant stated. 

Townley student Charlotte’s team created an app for student mental health and life skills with help from Amazon Ambassadors. “We’ve been able to gain skills that we didn’t have before in computing, and it’s [boosted our confidence]. And we’ve just become much more interested in STEM and computing,” Charlotte said. 

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the AWS Summit London event. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for the AWS Summit London 2019 event. Neither Amazon Web Services Inc., the sponsor for theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE