Amazon Awards Scholarship to Clara Kim of Primoris Academy

Clara Kim, a student at Primoris Academy in Westwood NJ, is one of one hundred high school students from the United States to be honored with an Amazon Future Engineer Scholarship. She will receive a four-year $10,000-a-year scholarship while studying computer science or a related field at the college of her choice. Clara is guaranteed paid work experience as a summer intern at Amazon after her freshman year of college. Amazon chose the recipients by evaluating their academic work, their leadership skills, community and school participation, work experience, and career goals. Applicants are required to have completed the Advanced Placement course in computer science while in high school.

Clara’s accomplishments are not limited to just computer science. At the 2019 New Jersey Science League Chemistry II Division, she came in 1st place out of 523 participants, helping the Primoris Academy team place 2nd overall. Her high score on the New Jersey Chemistry Olympiad earned her an invitation to take the U.S. Chemistry National Olympiad exam (USNCO) two consecutive years. She is the brainchild behind the creation of Solved By Girls (SBG) Conference, held at Primoris Academy each year to recognize underrepresented girls in STEM. Her community service also extends to dance. She has been a competitive dancer for 14 years, winning several dance scholarships. In her free time, she also plays the cello and the piano and is a licensed Junior Scuba Diver. Clara especially enjoys applying her computer skills to video recording and editing and to photography.

This is the first year that Amazon is offering this scholarship. Amazon Future Engineer is part of a larger program that serves to promote careers and foster education in computer science, especially among groups that are underrepresented in the field. The programs are aimed at both children and young adults. It’s part of Amazon’s $50 million investment in computer science/STEM education. Amazon expects that scholarship winners will be among the next generation of leaders in computer science.