MEMPHIS, Tenn. —
The possibilities for Black girls to enter fields related to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) were promoted at Amazon's new Robotics Fulfillment Center in Raleigh.
ABC24 was invited inside exclusively with Black Girls Code, an organization promoting STEM.
"The potential in Memphis, specifically, is as great as the imagination," MEM 4 Amazon Robotics general manager Sam Bales said.
The 855,000-square-foot property was the first Amazon facility in Tennessee to utilize robotic technology to pick, pack and ship items to customers. The operation moves up to 65,000 packages through this facility on any given day, using 54,000 pods and nearly 5,000 Kivas — robots that help workers sort product.
Along with Black Girls Code, ABC24 exclusively toured the massive building that employs nearly 4,000 people.
"There is a geographical benefit and logistics benefit of being so centrally located here in the Mid-South," Bales said. "But the other reason 'why Memphis,' is the people of Memphis.”
Eleventh-grader Kennedi Wilson represent what Bales is talking about. Wilson and nearly 40 other Black girls toured the facility Saturday, discovering the possibilities and potential in engineering right here at home.
“I know it's going to be difficult because there’s not a lot of black women in the STEM field," East High School junior Kennedi Wilson said. "But I want to be a black woman in the STEM field.”
Wilson's desire was met with resources. Black Girls Code and Amazon's Future Engineer Program help to increase literacy in STEM.
"We just wanted to let the girls see that it’s more than when they click ‘buy’ on the sight and the technology that goes into it and the way that they can do the coding, do the technology behind what they saw today," Tecia Marshall lead of the Memphis Black Girls Code chapter said. "Traditionally technology is a white male-dominated field, and they need to know that black women have the ability — that we have the capability."