West Virginia computer science educator Becky Cooper garners an Amazon Future Engineer Teacher of the Year Award.

Ten exceptional educators from around the country have garnered a Future Engineer Teacher of the Year Award from Amazon. One of these is Becky Cooper, a teacher at Riverside High School in Belle, West Virginia.

Becky was recognized for her work helping students in under-served and under-represented communities build skills in computer science. “Computer science skills will be of vital importance as we take on and solve the challenges of the future,” declared Jeff Wilke, CEO of Amazon Worldwide Consumer. This is the first year Amazon has offered the prize.

Becky has devoted 11 years to working with students in the classroom, all of them at Riverside High School. Before she became an educator, she spent more 14 years as an IT business programmer analyst for Columbia Gas Transmission in Charleston, West Virginia.

In 1986, Becky earned her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Data Processing from Morehead State University, Morehead, Kentucky. There she minored in Biology.In 2008, she completed the requirements for her Master’s degree in Teaching with an emphasis in Biology from Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia.

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, 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. Award recipients also received one full year of Amazon Music Unlimited and a 12-month Audible.com Gold Gift Membership. Becky and her fellow award-winners also received a $200 Amazon gift card to celebrate their hard work on behalf of computer science students across the country.

To learn more about all the winners of the award, see this link at Amazonblog.