“Your Voice is Power” experience featuring
Pharrell’s new song, “Entrepreneur,” encourages students to examine
racial equity while learning coding
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Pharrell Williams’ education equity
nonprofit YELLOW, and the Georgia Institute of Technology today
announced a new educational collaboration called “Your Voice is
Power” to encourage middle and high school students to share their
voice on equity while learning to code new music remixes. The “Your
Voice is Power” collaboration includes five teaching modules with
lesson plans that teach coding while kick-starting meaningful
conversations among students and their teachers about the
importance of racial justice. This collaboration concludes with a
competition for students to share their own voices through remixing
Pharrell’s new song “Entrepreneur” using computer code on Georgia
Tech’s learn-to-code-through-music platform, EarSketch. “Your Voice
is Power” is the latest initiative between Amazon Future Engineer,
Amazon Music, and Georgia Tech to expand computer science education
to more students from underserved communities and groups currently
underrepresented in tech. “Your Voice Is Power” is hoping to
attract upwards of 100,000 students as a way to add unique,
meaningful, and entrepreneurial-minded content to their current
virtual learning experiences.
The need for high quality computer science education is more
important than ever, especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects that from 2014 to 2024,
the market for computer science professionals will grow twice as
fast as the rest of the labor market. BLS research also shows that
in 2019, the median annual salary for computer science occupations
was approximately $48,000 greater than the median wage for all
occupations in the U.S. What’s more, while the number of Black
students obtaining STEM degrees has increased over the last two
decades, Black professionals remain underrepresented within
American science and engineering enterprises. The National Science
Board (NSB) estimates that the number of Black professionals in
science and engineering must more than double to be representative
of Black people in the U.S. population in 2030.
“This collaboration between YELLOW, Amazon, and Georgia Tech is
a celebration of Black creators and change-makers,” said Pharrell.
“YELLOW at its core believes that education is a pathway to
success. Teaching kids future-ready skills like coding, especially
those kids for whom opportunities like this have not been equally
distributed, is how we prepare the next generation of
entrepreneurs.”
“YELLOW’s mission is to even the odds for kids through
education. We’re teaching for the future,” said Mike McGalliard,
CEO of YELLOW. “Georgia Tech’s EarSketch platform is a powerful
tool for kids to explore the connection between coding and
creativity. In working alongside Amazon to give kids access to
platforms like this, we can help them bring their ideas to
life.”
“Your Voice is Power'' introduces students to real-world
computer science-based careers held by people of color. Through
this program, students will meet professionals who use music and
computer science to fight for racial justice—people including Mike
Larson, Pharrell’s audio engineer; Chalece DeLaCoudray, a music
technologist and Georgia Tech alumna; and Joycelyn Wilson, Ph.D.,
Assistant Professor of Hip Hop Studies and Digital Media at Georgia
Tech. “Your Voice is Power'' will also encourage students to
channel their learning into an original remix of Pharrell’s new
song ‘Entrepreneur’ – a celebration of Black culture – using Python
computer code. Specifically, they will use looping (repeating) to
extend the length of their song, use strings to create new beats,
create custom functions representing different song sections, and
learn to upload their own sounds to the EarSketch library.
“We’re honored to join Amazon Future Engineer, and together
build further awareness and enlist more artists to join this
program that will break down barriers for students from
underrepresented communities,” said Ryan Redington, VP of Music
Industry at Amazon Music. “The more we support the next generation
of artists and creators, the better the future of music will be. We
are proud to work alongside Pharrell, a respected, visionary voice
in promoting racial justice and helping students achieve long-term
success.”
“Across 13 research studies with over 1000 participants, Georgia
Tech has shown that students who learn to code through music using
EarSketch have a higher intention to persist in studying and
pursuing careers in computing – especially BLNA students and
women,” said Jason Freeman, Professor and Chair of the School of
Music and the co-creator of EarSketch.
All middle and high school students around the United States and
Canada can participate in “Your Voice is Power.” The first round of
the competition will run from January 19 through March
12. The second round of the competition will run from March
15 through June 4. Students who submit their remixes to
the competition will be judged by a panel of Amazon engineers,
Amazon Music team members, and music industry professionals.
Winners will be chosen based on the quality of music, complexity
and organization of their code, and their inclusion of thoughtful
messaging and calls to action about the importance of racial
justice. Teachers and students can visit AmazonFutureEngineer.com
to get started, and for a full list of rules, prizes, scoring
guidelines, and accompanying curriculum.
Beyond this competition and throughout 2021, Amazon Future
Engineer and Amazon Music will work with additional inspiring
artists to add their songs to the EarSketch library. Right now,
students can also use computer code to remix Ciara’s songs “Set”
and “Melanin,” and Common’s “God is Love” on EarSketch.
This partnership is among the latest in Amazon’s ongoing work to
support education and racial equality initiatives in communities
across the country where its employees live and work. Recently, the
company donated $10 million to organizations that are working to
bring about social justice and improve the lives of Black and
African Americans. Recipients—selected with the help of Amazon's
Black Employee Network (BEN)—include groups focused on combating
systemic racism through the legal system as well as those dedicated
to expanding educational and economic opportunity for Black
communities. Amazon followed this initial donation with a hugely
successful employee match program that resulted in an additional
$17 million going to these organizations for a total of $27 million
from the Amazon community.
About Amazon
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather
than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to
operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews,
1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment
by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets,
Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and
services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit
amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.
About YELLOW
Launched in 2019 by recording artist, producer, songwriter,
philanthropist and entrepreneur, Pharrell Williams, YELLOW is a
non-profit working to even the odds for all youth through
education. YELLOW’s ecosystem approach puts youth at the center and
surrounds them with the supports they need to realize their
potential. At the heart of this ecosystem is YELLOW—HAB, offering a
highly personalized and immersive education that knits together
transformative learning opportunities at school, at home, online,
and in the community.
About Georgia Tech
The Georgia Institute of Technology is a top ten public research
university with 40,000 students. We offer campuses in Atlanta,
Georgia; Lorraine, France; Shenzhen, China; as well as robust
distance and online learning programs. Our Engineering and
Computing colleges are among the highest-ranked in the nation,
along with outstanding programs in Business, Design, Liberal Arts,
and Sciences. Our students thrive in technology- and
research-driven environments, and we foster a culture rooted in
creativity and innovation.
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