Ten exceptional educators from around the country have garnered a Future Engineer Teacher of the Year Award from Amazon. One of these is Mark Snodgrass, a computer science teacher at Southport High School in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Mark was recognized for his 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.

“Mr. Snodgrass is a shining example of innovative instruction,” declared Brian Knight, principal of Southport High. “He recognizes that education doesn’t happen only inside of the classroom. Instead, Mr. Snodgrass builds meaningful relationships with community partners who have vast resources that engage students and take their learning to the next level.”

A graduate of the University of Indianapolis, Mark’s career as an educator has spanned 18 years. He has worked at Southport High School for four of those years. Mark is committed to providing his students with new learning experiences. He inaugurated a “Girls that Code” program into his curriculum to encourage more girls to pursue STEM careers. In addition, Mark encourages every student to join the FIRST Robotics team.

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.The package included 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. Mark and his 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.