W. H. Adamson High School. Photo by Danny Fulgencio.
An Adamson High School rising senior is one of two North Texas students being recognized for the inaugural Bold and Bright award, which recognizes students who have demonstrated advanced computer science skills, built creative coding projects, and have set goals to pursue careers and college fields of study in computer science..
Elias Land is the recipient from Adamson High School, and the second award was given to Jessica Obonna of Wylie High School. The award is given by the Dallas-based nonprofit Bold Idea.
Land has participated in Bold Idea’s ideaSpark coding club since he was a middle school student and wants to pursue a career in technology.
“My dream job is to work for law enforcement, possibly even the FBI, as a cybersecurity agent/analyst,” Land said in a statement. “Next year, if possible, I would like to develop coding skills that will develop me in my future journey to learn cybersecurity. If not, then I would love to learn how I can take the web design skills that I already have to the next level.”
As part of the Bold and Bright award, Land will have the opportunity to visit NASA to shadow an engineer later this summer. He will also receive one-on-one mentoring throughout his senior year, a letter of recommendation for his college application and a guaranteed internship with a local tech company next summer following his high school graduation.
Land will be recognized on June 14 at Bold Idea’s Annual Celebration.
