MSMS student wins $40,000 scholarship from Amazon
COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – Amazon has given a local high school student a chance to better their future with the company.
Samuel Hill, a student at the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science, had his life changed forever with a package delivered from Amazon and presented by his teacher.
“It looked just like a normal box. I thought she was just asking for some help like to move it to her car or something. But I opened the box and I saw the scholarship, I was like, Wow, are you serious? This is, this is crazy,” Samuel Hill said.
Amazon awarded 100 students across the country $40,000 each to attend college and pursue a degree in computer science. This Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science student was one of them.
“I was so overwhelmed with emotions that, that it just felt unreal to me,” Hill said.
Hill said that this scholarship will help with the cost of attending the University of Southern Mississippi.
“I was going to be in debt, around $4,000 each year or $60,000 in debt and that’s with the amount of almost free tuition I got from my ACT score and the honors college scholarship I got. So going from that to debt-free, is just so alleviating, and have money leftover. It means I could either take more classes or potentially transfer over and honing my skills in a specific major.”
Dr. Danielle Grimes, an Engineering Instructor at MSMS, had Hill in two classes. She said she’s just as excited for his next step.
“I think this is kind of the moment that every teacher appreciates. This is what teachers are looking for. There’s nothing more exciting than seeing a student achieve their goals. There’s nothing more heart-warming than
seeing the effort you put forth is now being rewarded outside of even your classroom,” said Dr. Grimes.
“I really do it all to my family is my mom pushed me to work on the scholarship and it was my dad to help me hone my ideas,” Hill added.
In addition to receiving the $40,000 scholarship, Hill will complete an internship at Amazon over the next four years.
Leave a Reply