As a “connected society” we face constant cyber threats against our critical infrastructure and economy. As individuals, cybersecurity risks can threaten our finances, identity, and privacy. October 2014 marks the 11th Annual National Cyber Security Awareness Month sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security.
Students throughout California are learning how to foil cyber-attacks through a national youth cyber education program called CyberPatriot. At the center of CyberPatriot is a national competition that puts teams of high school and middle school students in the position of newly hired IT professionals tasked with managing the network of a small company.
Beyond the Bell After School Programs
At an early age, Richard was intrigued by computers and wanted to learn more about them, taking them apart and rebuilding them piece by piece. “I’ve always wanted to create my own computer hardware, but if I can be better than Steve Jobs, I want to be.” At Locke Charter School in Watts, Richard’s aspirations of becoming the next computer pioneer proved to be difficult at first. “We didn’t have any special classes like woodshop, computer science, or programming,” Richard said. Without the proper curriculum, he didn’t have the means to further his passion for technology and the Internet.
That changed when Richard’s school got involved with the CyberPatriot program in 2010. Carey Peck, principal of the Beyond the Bell after school programs in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), saw the importance of encouraging high school students to consider science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers. While LAUSD educates more than 150,000 students a year, only 2.9% of adults 25 and over in Watts have 4-year college degrees. (Thank you CISCO for your support!)
Doing What Matters: Thank You Professor Steve Linthicum
As the Deputy ICT/DM Sector Navigator with the Doing What Matters for Jobs and the Economy initiative, Steve is funding middle school and high school teams in the Greater Sacramento Region who will be participating in the CyberPatriot competition. With this support, the number of student teams will grow from 4 to between 50-60 teams for the 2014 competition (teams form after October 10th).
The list of Schools from the Sacramento area include:
| Elk Grove High School
Sheldon High School Granite Bay High School Placer High School Heron School (K-8) Highlands High School Luther Burbank High School Joseph Kerr Middle School Toby Johnson Middle School Valley High School Lincoln High School
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Hiram Johnson High School
Katherine L Albiani Middle School Edward Harris Middle School Natomas Middle School Rocklin High School Casa Roble High School Monterey Trail High School AM Winn Waldorf-Inspired K-8 CK McClatchy High School Vista Del Lago High School
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