25 Air Force Junior ROTC Cadets Selected for Elite Cyber Academy

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Thursday, May 21, 2020, CSforALL, Air Force Junior ROTC, Mississippi State University Bagley College of Engineering, and the National Cybersecurity Training and Education Center (NCyTE) at Whatcom Community College announced 25 Air Force JROTC cadets selected for the inaugural Air Force Junior ROTC Cyber Academy, the capstone experience of the JROTC-CS Demonstration Project.

Participating cadets were selected through a competitive process from 30 Air Force JROTC host schools participating in the JROTC-CS Demonstration Project is a public-private partnership working to develop a national model for computer science and cybersecurity education to be deployed across the nationwide network of over 3,400 JROTC host high schools.

During the cyber academy, the cadets will build skills in state-of-the-art computing and cybersecurity under the supervision of instructors from Mississippi State University and Whatcom Community College’s Center for Academic Excellence in Information Assurance/Cyber Defense. The program will be delivered remotely due to COVID-19, and each cadet will be equipped with a cyber workstation including a laptop computer with a branded bag, gaming headset, and additional tools needed to fully engage in the program through support from Capital One. The cadets will work in small collaborative teams led by MSU students and supported by technical mentors from the Air Force, and will participate in weekly career conversations with high-level industry professionals. Upon completion, each cadet will earn three college credits from Mississippi State University and will have the opportunity to sit for the COMPTIA IT Fundamentals certification exam. The value of the AFJROTC Cyber Academy scholarship is $8,000.

“We look forward to having the cadets from across the country enroll at Mississippi State University in a for-credit cybersecurity course and get a jump start on their college education,” shared Sarah Lee, Assistant Department Head, Computer Science and Engineering Department, MSU Bagley College of Engineering.

“The NCyTE Center (ncyte.net) at Whatcom Community College is pleased to partner with Mississippi State University for this important endeavor. The overarching goal of the NCyTE Center is to strengthen and build the cybersecurity workforce nationwide. This academy serves as an important contribution to this goal and the ultimate goal of securing the nation.” — Corrinne Sande, Director/PI NCyTE Center at Whatcom Community College

The 2020 Air Force JROTC Cyber Academy inaugural class:

Adair

Joy

Aberdeen High School

Aberdeen

MS

Castor

Aidan

Alan B. Shepard High School

Palos Heights

IL

Clark

Brandon

Bob Jones High School

Madison

AL

Cruz

Edwin

Bloomingdale Senior High School

Brandon

FL

Davis

Makayla

Aberdeen High School

Aberdeen

MS

Doud

Joshua

Edmond North High School

Edmond

OK

Dyson IV

Trelas

Shadow Ridge High School

North Las Vegas

NV

Fyke

Grace

Howell High school

Howell

MI

Hopkins

Devin

North East High School

Oakland Park

FL

Kaiser

Camille

Utah Military Academy

Syracuse

UT

Lee

Brendan

Utah Military Academy

West Haven

UT

Loretz

Jason

Prattville High School

Prattville

AL

Lynch

Katelyn

Northeast High School

Oakland Park

FL

Metayer

Jamesly

Northeast High School

North Lauderdale

FL

Nance

Philip

Washington Liberty

Arlington

VA

Preston

Ashlyn

Choctawhatchee High School

Fort Walton Beach

FL

Racz

Zoe

Choctawhatchee Senior High School

Fort Walton Beach

FL

Ramdhan

Nicholas

Harry S Truman High School

Bronx

NY

Rodríguez

Naomy

John Bowne High School

Flushing

NY

Sparks

Noah

Shadow Ridge High School

Las Vegas

NV

Torres

Daniel

Santiago High School

Corona

CA

Tran

Louis

Edmond North High School

Edmond

OK

Vernon

Olivia

Edmond North High School

Edmond

OK

Warren

Abigail

Bob Jones High School

Madison

AL

Williamson

Logan

Dobbyns Bennett

Kingsport

TN

 

Currently the Department of Labor predicts cybersecurity jobs will grow at a rate of 32%, and the Center for Cyber Safety and Education reports there will be 1.8 million unfilled cybersecurity jobs by 2022, a 20% increase over 2015.

“Headquarters AFJROTC is excited about this initiative and for each of our cadets selected. This program embodies the purpose and vision of the AFJROTC mission — developing young citizens.” shared Colonel Stephen T. Sanders, Director, HQ AFJROTC. “The cyber skills and technology certifications offered through this program will provide options and opportunities including up to $10,000 in enlistment bonuses and collegiate scholarships. Whether our cadets have military or civilian careers in mind, we are preparing them for the future.”

“The fact that these cadets are jumping in to be a part of our inaugural program — and doing so virtually — is a testament to the demand for technology career exploration opportunities among young people. We are looking forward to learning from their experience this summer and building out a model to bring computing and cybersecurity to JROTC cadets broadly.” said Ruthe Farmer, Chief Evangelist, CSforALL

The JROTC-CS Demonstration Project supports the goals of the JROTC Cyber Training Act of 2019 (H.R. 3266 and Sen. 2154) and is in alignment with Section 512 of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, which amended Section 2031(b)(3) of title 10, United States Code, to include instruction or activities in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in the JROTC program. At scale, this program model has the potential to engage over 545,000 high school students in computer science and cybersecurity education pathways, as well as build technology education capacity at over 3,400 JROTC high schools, serving 4 million students overall.

The JROTC-CS Demonstration Project is public-private partnership led by CSforALL in collaboration with the JROTC-CS Advisory Consortium Members including: Air Force Association’s CyberPatriot; U.S. Air Force Junior ROTC HQ; Capital One; Google; Intel Corporation; Lockheed Martin; Microsoft; Mississippi State University; National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE); National Integrated Cyber Education Research Center (NICERC); SANS Institute; Snap Inc.; The College Board; The Internet Institute.

Interested in learning more, visit https://www.csforall.org/projects_and_programs/jrotc/