Carson Middle School receives special designation

A Greene County Middle School was selected as an “Amazon Future Engineer (AFE) school.

The program is a partnership between Amazon and Protect STEM to further “access to computer science education in communities currently underrepresented in the technology field.”

“Students have technology more and more in their hands daily, so we want to get them in a position where they are comfortable with technology and knowing how to work math and science and being able to think about the engineering process and how does it apply to their daily lives,” said DeAndra Lanier, CMS Principal.

According to the district: “The process of transforming CMS into a STEM-focused school began in spring 2021 when CMS teachers Ashley Bridges and Shelly Deen won a grant to participate in a summer training program on artificial intelligence at UGA. The grant was awarded to middle school teachers at schools from traditionally underserved populations in STEM and AI topics. In the workshop, they not only worked with UGA faculty to create teaching and learning materials to use in their classroom, but also involved CMS students in creating lesson plans and testing STEM activities. These teachers have been implementing the resulting STEM materials in their classrooms as a pilot program since August, and now, the school is ready to take the effort school-wide, to every student.”

Lanier says the program will last for three years, with Amazon providing the curriculum and access to programs that help students learn.