Yahoo Finance ‘Who is Jeff Bezos?’: Kids confused as Amazon boss walks into computer class
Amazon founder and world’s richest man, Jeff Bezos, has been greeted with confusion after walking into a classroom of computer science students.
Bezos made the visit to the Washington D.C. high school classroom on Monday, which is partially funded by Amazon’s Future Engineer Program.
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But not all the students were aware of this fact, with one student filmed by NBC asking, “Who’s Jeff Bezos?” when the billionaire walked into the classroom.
Bezos was at the classroom with three Amazon programmers to show what the students had been learning with Amazon’s funding.
“Is this a computer science class? It is? Good, I’m in the right place,” Bezos said when he entered the room.
This morning @amazon is at Dunbar High School in DC to announce a milestone in its Future Engineer Program. They had a surprise guest....Jeff Bezos. @nbcwashington pic.twitter.com/dmOvmeJ4Fv
— Caroline Tucker (@CTuckerNews) October 21, 2019
FYI...the young man in the class ended up being the only one who spoke to Jeff Bezos about how much he has learned about coding. Later on, he told me he wanted to “seize” the opportunity to talk to the CEO. @nbcwashington pic.twitter.com/E8LoFv2o99
— Caroline Tucker (@CTuckerNews) October 22, 2019
The teacher, Ramona Hutchin, told the Washingtonian that only three of the 15 students actually knew who Bezos was.
But she did, screaming as he entered the room.
“I know I screamed,” Hutchin said.
“A thousand questions went through my mind. Should I shake his hand? Should I hug him? I told him, ‘I’m from New Orleans—I’m going in for the hug!'”
Dropped in on an #AmazonFutureEngineer class at Dunbar H.S. in D.C. today. We’re committed to bringing more resources to kids from underserved communities, and I’m proud to say we’re now funding computer science in more than 2,000 high schools across the U.S. #NextGeneration pic.twitter.com/HrFdIfrSDf
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) October 21, 2019
Bezos stayed and watched the students give presentations and share their work, telling students that their work was “so cool”.
The student who appeared confused when he entered the classroom ultimately shared with Bezos how much he had learned about coding, with Bezos applauding his work and ability to tell a story.
“We interviewed this student after Bezos left. He told us that once he found out Bezos was the CEO, he wanted to be the student who spoke to him in class. He said it was a great opportunity,” NBC producer Caroline Tucker said.
Bezos founded Amazon in 1994, and has gone on to become the richest man in the world, worth US$131 billion (AU$191 billion).
Users on Twitter applauded the student’s ability to seize the opportunity to learn and meet Bezos, with several suggesting the student was likely more concerned with computer science than billionaires.
“People is judging the kid, but he is there to learn and maybe high-tech celebrities are not on his wish list,” one user
said.
People is judging the kid, but he is there to learn and maybe high-tech celebrities are not on his wish list.
— Julio Acevedo (@Juliomace23) October 22, 2019
“I for one, love his reaction. Jeff Bezos puts his pants on the same way everyone else does,” added another.
But others argued the video highlighted the problems with America’s youth.
“If he's not an Instagram "influencer" how will the kids know about him? Maybe we need a shot of Jeff Bezos on the beach in a bikini for the kids to show interest,” one person said.
If he's not an Instagram "influencer" how will the kids know about him? Maybe we need a shot of @JeffBezos on the beach in a bikini for the kids to show interest
— Tony Singh (@singhton) October 21, 2019
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