Tennessee high school teacher wins $50,000 Amazon award

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A Tennessee high school teacher and Tennessee State University alumna has won a $50,000 award from Amazon.

First-year teacher Shasta Charlton is a 2020 Amazon Future Engineer Teacher of the Year Award recipient. She is a computer science teacher and Robotics Club staffer at Whites Creek Comprehensive High School in Nashville.

Tennessee State said in news release that Charlton didn’t know much about robots, but she and her students still managed to build and code one to win the award. The award includes $25,000 for the school and $25,000 in school supplies.

Charlton says although she doesn’t have a computer science degree, she used YouTube videos and books to work it out.