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Time of India
18 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
Jeff Bezos educational qualification and career path: How this Princeton graduate built Amazon and flew to space
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez As billionaire entrepreneur Jeff Bezos's marriage to journalist Lauren Sánchez unfolds today in Venice, attention is once again drawn to the staggering journey of the man who transformed the way the world shops, reads, and even thinks about space. The ceremony, which had to be relocated due to protests over overtourism, now takes place in the historic Arsenale complex in Venice's Castello district, as reported by The Guardian . Bezos's rise is inextricably tied not only to his staggering wealth and business empire but also to a formative academic foundation, one that laid the blueprint for an audacious career that redefined e-commerce, cloud computing, and private space exploration. Early curiosity and academic brilliance marked his childhood Born Jeffrey Preston Jorgensen on January 12, 1964, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Bezos was raised by a teenage mother and, later, by his adoptive Cuban-American father, Mike Bezos. His childhood was defined by curiosity, mechanical inventiveness, and time spent on his grandfather's Texas ranch, where he learned the value of self-reliance. He displayed a strong aptitude for science and technology early on — once installing an electric alarm to keep his siblings out of his room. While attending Miami Palmetto High School, Bezos worked at McDonald's and earned accolades including being a National Merit Scholar and a Silver Knight Award winner, according to The Miami Herald . by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Kamiq 130 Edition. Pensato con quello che desideri, di serie. Škoda Scopri di più Undo He also attended the Student Science Training Program at the University of Florida. In his valedictorian speech, Bezos proclaimed his dream of colonizing space and turning Earth into a "national park" — a quote that would later mirror his ambitions with Blue Origin, his aerospace company. Princeton University shaped his tech-first mindset After high school, Bezos enrolled at Princeton University in 1982. He initially majored in physics but later switched to electrical engineering and computer science — a pivotal decision that steered him toward the digital revolution. As he later admitted during a 2018 talk at the Economic Club of Washington, D.C., he abandoned his physicist dreams after being bested in a math problem by a fellow student. Bezos graduated summa cum laude in 1986 with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and Tau Beta Pi, and served as president of the Princeton chapter of Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS). He was also a member of the Quadrangle Club and graduated with a reported GPA of 4.2. Wall Street to a garage: Bezos's unconventional career launch Post-Princeton, Bezos was courted by major firms like Intel and Bell Labs but began his career at Fitel, a fintech firm, before moving into banking at Bankers Trust. He eventually landed at hedge fund D.E. Shaw & Co., where he rose to senior vice-president by age 30. But it was a road trip from New York to Seattle in 1994 that changed everything. Armed with a business plan written in the car, Bezos founded Amazon in a garage — originally a humble online bookstore. Supported by a $300,000 investment from his parents, Amazon grew into the world's largest e-commerce and cloud computing empire, spawning entire industries and altering consumer behavior globally. A space pioneer with a 1982 dream realized In 2000, Bezos founded Blue Origin, citing the same passion for space travel he voiced in high school. By 2015, the company's New Shepard rocket had reached space and landed back on Earth successfully. On July 20, 2021, Bezos himself flew into space aboard NS-16, a milestone that made his childhood vision real. As reported by CNBC , Bezos has sold billions in Amazon stock to fund Blue Origin's ambitions, vowing to move industry off Earth and protect its natural environment. Is your child ready for the careers of tomorrow? Enroll now and take advantage of our early bird offer! Spaces are limited.
Miami Herald
15-05-2025
- General
- Miami Herald
‘I'm super honored': 2025 Silver Knight Awards handed out to high achieving graduates
One student created a Special Olympics soccer and football team at his high school. Another student created an organization that gives menstrual pads to girls in homeless shelters and schools in Jamaica after learning that a lack of access to sanitary products was keeping girls from going to school. And another student raised money to build clean water wells in an African country where families walk miles to get clean drinking water. Read more: Meet the 2025 Silver Knight Award winners At this year's Miami Herald Silver Knight Awards, which recognizes high school seniors for service projects, 15 students from Miami-Dade and Monroe counties and 15 from Broward County went home smiling Wednesday night with $2,000 scholarship from the Herald Charities Foundation, 25,000 American Advantage miles, good for a round-trip ticket in the U.S., and a Silver Knight statue. The 67th annual Miami Herald/el Nuevo Herald Silver Knight Award ceremony, coined the 'Oscars for High Schoolers in Miami,' took place at the James L. Knight Center in downtown Miami. The Silver Knight Awards program was instituted at The Miami Herald in 1959 by John S. Knight, the Pulitzer Prize-winning former publisher of The Miami Herald, founder and editor emeritus of Knight-Ridder Newspapers. This year's nominees wore their finest, and a packed audience of parents, student advisors, and community members cheered when their students' names were called. Many of the male students wore perfectly polished shoes, suit jackets and ties, and girls wore dresses with heels as they took the stage, accompanied by the North Broward High School jazz band. Each of the 15 categories' winner is chosen by a panel of judges made up of community leaders in each respective field. The categories include art, athletics, business, digital media, drama, English, general scholarship, journalism, mathematics, music, science, social science, speech, vocational tech, and world languages. At the event, students who received 'honorable mentions' also took the stage and went home with a $500 scholarship and a plaque. All winners were also adorned with the coveted ribbon that winners get to wear around their neck during their high school graduation. One student at today's event is the second in her family to be nominated. Gilliane McLaughlin, 18, said that when she told her mom she was nominated this year, she found out that her mom had also been nominated as a high school senior. McLaughlin was nominated for her work selling rosaries at her Catholic church to raise money for its expansion. Paulette Martinez, who won the Silver Knight for General Scholarship in Miami-Dade was crying as she was handed her award on the stage. She was in shock. 'It wasn't even something I was thinking of,' said Martinez, a student at Miami Arts Studio 6-12 at Zelda Glazer, who will attend Princeton next year. She said she calculated she only had a two percent chance of winning, and so she did not even invite her mom to the ceremony. But she called her mom backstage to give her the news, and more importantly, to get her social security number so she could get her check. In Miami-Dade, 683 students were nominated from 93 schools across Miami-Dade and Monroe counties. There were 252 nominees from Broward, coming from 33 different schools. Winners included Amelia McKay, a senior at South Miami Senior High who won Miami-Dade's art category for her work on climate awareness and Amy Zhou from the School for Advanced Studies at Miami Dade College Wolfson campus for her work on an after-school tutoring program. Roberto Carmona, from Hialeah-Miami Lakes Senior High, originally from Cuba, created an organization to lobby for students who are learning English to have more subtitles in school. Jonah Feldman, a student from Cypress Bay High School in Broward, raised money to help build clean water wells in rural Eswatini, an African country where families walk miles to get clean drinking water, often over rough terrain. He won the Silver Knight in the journalism category. 'Wow, I didn't expect that at all, I can't even describe it,' he told the Herald. 'I am super excited to be recognized and I am happy because now the whole auditorium knows about the project.' He and Thirst Project members raised the funds by telling the story of the villagers at various events. The new wells will mean women and children don't have to lug 40-pound jugs to get water, freeing them up to work and attend school. Before and after the event, proud parents were snapping photos and offering hugs to their soon-to-be graduated seniors. Leading up to the event, most students were nervous but excited. Some, like Emma Rubinstein and Harlee Ross, both nominees in the Music and Dance category, made friends while waiting for the event to begin. Turns out, both Rubinstein and Ross will attend the University of Miami next year. They plan to study engineering and legal studies, respectively. Ross got dressed up for tonight's award ceremony alongside the 14 other nominees from North Broward High School in the gym locker room, as she was at school all day taking her International Baccalaureate or 'IB' exam. 'I am just excited to be here and grateful to be selected by my school,' said Ross. Gabriella Amore, who will attend Princeton next year, said she felt amazing after learning she won the drama category for Broward for her service project to help animals. Amore is also the founding member of one of the first girls troops in Boy Scouts of America. 'I'm super honored, it's just amazing,' she said.
