Stanford Bound: San Leandro Student Earns $40,000 Scholarship

SAN LEANDRO, CA — The Class of 2020 missed out on so many rites of passage — from senior proms to graduation ceremonies. But senior year for one new graduate from San Leandro will be memorable for a remarkable accomplishment — Blain Engeda earned an Amazon Future Engineer Scholarship, which includes a $40,000 scholarship to study computer science and a paid internship at Amazon after her freshmen year of college. Next stop: Stanford University.

Blain graduated from Arroyo High School in San Lorenzo.

Amazon told Patch in an email, "When Blain first started her journey in computer science she was discouraged, as she was the only girl and the only African American in most of her classes. This inspired her to start a Girls Who Code club at her school to combat the lack of diversity and break the image of what a computer scientist is supposed to look like."

Blain’s father died in 2017 and she did not know how she would afford to go to college. The Amazon Future Engineer Scholarship is awarded to 100 high school seniors from underserved communities across the country each year. Last year, a student from Alameda won one of the scholarships.

As for the future, Blain wants to use her skills to make housing affordable in the Bay Area.