Amazon Web Services (AWS) CEO Andy Jassy and award-winning Baltimore middle school teacher Wyatt Oroke will speak at the 2018 Spring Commencement ceremonies June 16-17 in Alex G. Spanos Stadium.
On Saturday, Oroke will address the 1,500 graduates from College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences and College of Science and Mathematics at 9 a.m. and 1,600 graduates from the College of Liberal Arts and Orfalea College of Business at 3 p.m.
Jassy will address the 1,600 graduates from the College of Engineering and College of Architecture and Environmental Design on Sunday at 9 a.m.
Wyatt Oroke inspires in the classroom
After graduating from Cal Poly in 2013 with a degree in history, Oroke left California to teach humanities in one of the poorest middle schools in East Baltimore.
After seeing the effects of homelessness, gun violence, poverty and pregnancy on many of his students, Oroke works to break the cycle in his classroom.
He has received the COBALT award for excellence in LGBTQ+ youth advocacy and the Community Hero award by Baltimore Orioles. He was also surprised with $25,000 for his school on “The Ellen Show” for the money he and his students raised for Hurricane Harvey Relief.
“What happens in classrooms today impacts what happens in the world tomorrow,” Oroke said. “If you fill your classroom with love today, you’re going to fill the world with love tomorrow.”
A resolution in his name was passed by the Maryland Senate for his work in social justice through education.
Andy Jassy and AWS
Jassy earned his undergraduate degree from Harvard University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is the CEO of the largest cloud computing platform in the world, powering many household-name businesses, including Comcast, Expedia, Netflix, NFL, Shutterfly, Verizon and Disney.
Cal Poly and Amazon Web Services (AWS) – a subsidiary of Amazon focused on cloud computing platforms – recently teamed up to form the Digital Transformation Hub (DT-Hub), intended to solve the world’s problems through innovative technology.
Prior to taking the helm of AWS, Jassy held several leadership positions across Amazon.