As its business footprint is growing in Central New York, Amazon will now also be investing in the area’s education.
The global company will be donating $1.75 million in robotics and computer science technology improvements to the coming Syracuse STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) school, Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon announced Tuesday.
“One of the things that when we were courting Amazon to come here and why they should be here, is we talked about the relationships in this community, and how there’s really synergies and intentionalism and the leaders in this community would get along. And we talked about the STEAM school,” McMahon said. “And we talked about how unique of a project this was, a project that you would have a county-wide reach to all our kids, focused in on the curriculum of tomorrow. And that was a big selling point for them.”
Amazon is currently investing $400 million in Onondaga County by developing 400-square feet of space between three different facilities.
“To have Amazon at this time not only building this world-class facility that is creating jobs when they are needed more than ever in our community, but to be able to look beyond the needs of today to the needs of tomorrow and to recognize the vision of the STEAM school, to recognize the alignment in leadership and the partnership in this community, it tells me a lot as to why Amazon is where they are as a company,” said Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh.
Along with specialized high school classes, the Syracuse STEAM school will host a worker training and apprenticeship program. Students could graduate with advanced certifications and college degrees. It is part of the Syracuse Surge initiative, which is a strategy for inclusive growth in the new economy.
Luke Parsnow - New York State Politics Digital Content Producer
Luke Parsnow is the New York state politics digital content writer and producer at Spectrum News 1. He is an award-winning writer and political columnist and previously worked for CNYCentral in Syracuse and The Post-Star in Glens Falls, New York.