DECATUR, Ala. (WHNT) – A Decatur elementary school teacher has been named one of ten Amazon Engineer Teachers of the Year.

Regan Clark, a teacher at West Decatur Elementary School, was chosen as a dynamic teacher who encourages students to pursue careers in computer science and robotics. She is one of two elementary school teachers chosen and the only award winner from the state of Alabama.

Clark will receive $25,000 to use in her school to help promote computer science and/or robotics initiatives. She will also receive $5,000 for herself.

“We are excited to recognize our third cohort of Amazon Future Engineer Teacher of the Year recipients and celebrate their efforts over the past year to increase access to computer science opportunities in their classrooms and beyond,” said Victor Reinoso, global director of Amazon’s philanthropic education initiatives. “Despite another difficult year with unique challenges brought on by the pandemic, we were impressed by the immense creativity and dedication of these teachers to help their students excel and build fundamental computer science and coding skills that will help them achieve their career goals, whatever those might be.”

The Amazon Future Teachers of the Year were chosen based on a variety of categories including a commitment to promoting diversity and inclusion in computer science education, a recommendation from a school administrator and personal anecdotes about their school and students.

With the money, Clark plans to create a STEM lab that all students at West Decatur Elementary can use.