Bryant High Senior Earns $40K Scholarship, Amazon Internship

TUSCALOOSA, AL — Tuscaloosa City Schools (TCS) on Wednesday announced Paul W. Bryant High School senior Javoris Lake has won a $40,000 scholarship and engineering internship from Amazon.

Click here to subscribe to our free Tuscaloosa Daily newsletter and breaking news alerts

Lake, 17, is the only student from Alabama to be chosen for the internship and is one of 400 students in 40 states nationwide to receive the prestigious Amazon Future Engineer Scholarship.

“We are so proud of this young man and how he is representing not just Paul W. Bryant High School, but the Tuscaloosa City Schools and the state of Alabama,” TCS Superintendent Mike Daria said. “It the vision of TCS to prepare our students up for life and career success, and we have also put an emphasis on STEM education. Javoris is an excellent example of a student who has benefitted from both in TCS. We are excited to watch where his career leads, because undoubtedly he has a bright future ahead."

Lake is also the first recipient ever from the Tuscaloosa City Schools. He will receive a total of $40,000 for college as part of the scholarship — up to $10,000 per year — and an engineering internship with Amazon the summer after his freshman year.

“I think it's a huge blessing,” Lake said. “You know, I try to stay faithful to God, and I feel like he's the one that's granted me this opportunity. And you know, I'm really blessed, especially to be the only person in Alabama to receive the scholarship, but just to have the opportunity.”

Lake will graduate in May and is currently top of his class with a 4.3 GPA. He is trying to decide if he wants to attend The University of Alabama or the University of Michigan, where he plans to major in engineering.

Lake's interest in engineering began with computer science in middle school before taking other classes at the Tuscaloosa Career and Technology Academy in high school, including construction, modern manufacturing and engineering courses.

“I really enjoy computer science and building websites and designing different things," he said. "There's a lot of stuff that actually goes into it that you don't see.”

Lake has also worked at Mercedes Benz U.S. International in Vance for the last year as part of its apprenticeship program and serves as an ambassador for the Tuscaloosa Career and Technology Academy. the Superintendent Student Advisory Group for Paul W. Bryant High School.

“I've had kids apply for this for the past four years, and nobody's ever gotten it until now,” TCTA computer science teacher Destiny Ramey said. “I just think he's so deserving, because he puts in so much hard work. He works at Mercedes, and then he's doing all these different things from construction and engineering and computer science, and he's just like an awesome kid.”

Have a news tip or suggestion on how I can improve Tuscaloosa Patch? Maybe you're interested in having your business become one of the latest sponsors for Tuscaloosa Patch? Email all inquiries to me at ryan.phillips@patch.com.