The popular tech company, Apple announced their one-billion-dollar-plan to build a new campus and engineering hub in the Raleigh area. 

  The company has a goal of adding at least 20,000 jobs in the United States within the next five years. This campus will create at least 3,000 new jobs in North Carolina, in the fields of machine learning, software engineering, artificial intelligence and more. 

  Sanderson High School junior Zaydin Thomas talked about his feelings towards the tech giant deciding to build in Raleigh in the midst of the city being urbanized.

  “I think it’s a good idea. Apple is a large corporation so it would boost the amount of jobs available to the people, but it’s not diverse enough to put most other local companies out of business,” shares Thomas.

  Member of Sanderson’s Student Council Chalina Morgan-Lopez worries what problems could arise for lower income families, “My main concern is that building a new campus in Raleigh will displace many lower-income families – classic gentrification.” 

  She continues, “Oftentimes when a large business is brought into the area, the property value increases to the point where it’s no longer affordable – this disproportionately impacts families of color and I’ve seen this happen first hand in Downtown and Southeast Raleigh.”

  The average salary for a software engineer is around $175,000 per year, so it can be assumed that the other positions working for the tech giant will have good pay as well. 

  According to The Wall Street Journal, in 2018 Apple announced their goal to contribute at least 350 million dollars into the economy within five years. Apple stated on April 24 they have outperformed that goal, but no specifics were given. 

  “I think it is a massive economic gain for Raleigh by the power and weight Apple has in the economy. I’m not aware of the full details of this expansion but it’s definitely a giant gain for both parties,” Junior Jack Dorta stated. 

  As a result of COVID-19 and the subsequent decrease in travel, Raleigh-Durham United International Airport was forced to begin working with only half of its budget, putting things like construction work on pause. 

  Spokesperson for RDU, Stephanie Hawco said to news outlet ABC11 that things are getting better for the airport but still have a long way to go, “We hope that companies like Apple and other companies in the Research Triangle region will get back to business travel, and we believe they will.”

 There is still a lot of information to be learned as more announcements come, but Sanderson students only hope it will better Raleigh.