get these nets
Veteran
April 30, 2021
Pilot program aims to steer students toward HBCU cyber degrees
BOSSIER CITY, La.--CYBER.ORG today announced the kickoff of a new pilot program created to recruit a diverse body of K-12 students to pursue undergraduate cybersecurity degrees and bolster the U.S. cybersecurity workforce. Through a $250,000 grant provided by the National Security Agency (NSA), CYBER.ORG will develop a K-12 feeder program for Grambling State University (GSU) in Northern Louisiana, a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) and the first university in the state to create a cybersecurity undergraduate degree. The goal is to replicate this model between school districts and HBCU’s across the country.
This “talent feeder program” has named Caddo Parish Public Schools in northwestern Louisiana as its first participating education district. The grant will enable two of the district’s schools, Huntington High School and Southwood High School, to stand up computer lab environments and bring in a veteran cyber educator to train the faculty on how to teach the curriculum to their pupils. The students will later receive further guidance from nearby HBCU Grambling State University, the first university in the state to create a cybersecurity undergraduate degree.
Cyber.org hopes to replicate this program across the country as a way to narrow the cyber skills gap by encouraging more minorities and members of underserved populations to join the cyber workforce. A recent EducationWeek study found that lower-income educational districts disproportionally turn into cybersecurity “deserts” where levels of cyber knowledge among teachers are low and opportunities to learn about infosec are few. Indeed, 28 percent of educators living in cybersecurity deserts said that at least 75 percent of their district’s students live in poverty.
“Our partnership with Cyber.org will be central to introducing more students at the high-school level to the possibility of pursuing cybersecurity degrees and careers,” said Grambling State University President Rick Gallot, in a press announcement. “This initiative is critical to ensuring that all students regardless of race, gender or socioeconomic status have equal opportunity to enter the cybersecurity field. We’re confident that other HBCUs and universities around the country will implement similar models with their own regional high schools.”
SC Media spoke with Dr. T. Lamar Goree, superintendent of Caddo Parish Public Schools, for their outlook on the new program, and what they hope to achieve from it.
Explain the motivation behind the program.
T. Lamar Goree (LG): As a school system, we’re certainly always looking for those opportunities to increase the opportunity for students to link high school and college, and be career ready. So we’re always looking for those amazing partnerships… I’m always looking for opportunities to partner with either private industry and/or colleges or universities, so that we can make sure that we are providing students with those internships, and those opportunities for them to truly find what their passion is.
A lot of this work in the K-12 setting is starting as early as sixth grade now, where we’re starting those interest inventories, so that we can begin to build upon that graduation plan for students to reach their full potential. When we look at our opportunity to partner with Grambling State University as well as with Cyber.org, we see this as capturing children at a very, very early age to introduce them to something that we know will lead to a productive career opportunity.
Even if it’s not in cybersecurity… it’s going to give students skills that they need to be successful in many jobs that we know will exist as we go into the future.
What are the diversity implications of establishing a program like this?
LG: First off, our Caddo Parish Public Schools is one of the largest school systems in North Louisiana, with about 37,000 students. We do have a high percentage of our students that are in poverty – about 72%. And we have a large minority population, with about 66% of our children being minorities, with about 63% being African American… That’s a space where that HBCU connection, and that connection to our African American community, as well as the skills that Cyber.org will bring to this conversation, will be very valuable as they move forward.
What I’d add to that, too, is that we have a lot of minority children who will be first generation college-goers. Now when you talk about the biggest challenges around being a first-gen, one is knowing how to navigate the system. We see this partnership as an early introduction to college life and what it’s like to matriculate at a college, and that’s going to also be a very important part of this relationship. They will get to know so much more about Grambling State University, while learning about cybersecurity and all the opportunities that it brings.
And… I’m really excited about those other historically black colleges and universities looking at this specific program and how this is going to help us change the trajectory of black and brown children, and underserved children, from a socioeconomic perspective as we move forward.
So what is the university’s role in all this?
LG: If you talk to Dr. Gallot at Grambling, he’ll tell you that it’s really about how we create this seamless transition from age 12 to freshman year in college. How do we make sure that through our cyber curriculum and implementation, we create an experience that [students are] excited about? How do we create that level of energy around this so that they want to do that extra work? Also, I love the idea of how we bring financial aid to them, how we make sure that those freshmen seminar classes and those advanced placement opportunities are all offered to them.
I tell people all the time, [look for] the diamonds in the rough. You’ve always got to identify that child who is extremely special, innately gifted, in these areas and make sure that we’re putting extra work into that. Then the advantage to Grambling State University, of course, is that they’re getting first shot at those students. But more importantly to us, we’re producing children that are not only going to graduate high school, but that are going to go on and graduate from college.
Up until now, what has been the state of Caddo Parish Public Schools’ cybersecurity curriculum, and how will this new pilot program improve upon it?
Since [I became] superintendent seven years ago, we’ve always talked about needing to focus on more STEM – how we infuse science, technology, engineering and math. And not only [examining] what children are doing in their science classes, but looking at that from a cross-curricular perspective. And we really started that work aggressively at the elementary school.
Just last year, we had our first K-8 STEM school where the school is totally embedded in those concepts around preparing students for STEM learning. We see this cyber innovation as totally enriching that opportunity at the two high schools where we are at doing this implementation. We see this changing the game.
Pilot program aims to steer students toward HBCU cyber degrees
BOSSIER CITY, La.--CYBER.ORG today announced the kickoff of a new pilot program created to recruit a diverse body of K-12 students to pursue undergraduate cybersecurity degrees and bolster the U.S. cybersecurity workforce. Through a $250,000 grant provided by the National Security Agency (NSA), CYBER.ORG will develop a K-12 feeder program for Grambling State University (GSU) in Northern Louisiana, a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) and the first university in the state to create a cybersecurity undergraduate degree. The goal is to replicate this model between school districts and HBCU’s across the country.
This “talent feeder program” has named Caddo Parish Public Schools in northwestern Louisiana as its first participating education district. The grant will enable two of the district’s schools, Huntington High School and Southwood High School, to stand up computer lab environments and bring in a veteran cyber educator to train the faculty on how to teach the curriculum to their pupils. The students will later receive further guidance from nearby HBCU Grambling State University, the first university in the state to create a cybersecurity undergraduate degree.
Cyber.org hopes to replicate this program across the country as a way to narrow the cyber skills gap by encouraging more minorities and members of underserved populations to join the cyber workforce. A recent EducationWeek study found that lower-income educational districts disproportionally turn into cybersecurity “deserts” where levels of cyber knowledge among teachers are low and opportunities to learn about infosec are few. Indeed, 28 percent of educators living in cybersecurity deserts said that at least 75 percent of their district’s students live in poverty.
“Our partnership with Cyber.org will be central to introducing more students at the high-school level to the possibility of pursuing cybersecurity degrees and careers,” said Grambling State University President Rick Gallot, in a press announcement. “This initiative is critical to ensuring that all students regardless of race, gender or socioeconomic status have equal opportunity to enter the cybersecurity field. We’re confident that other HBCUs and universities around the country will implement similar models with their own regional high schools.”
SC Media spoke with Dr. T. Lamar Goree, superintendent of Caddo Parish Public Schools, for their outlook on the new program, and what they hope to achieve from it.
Explain the motivation behind the program.
T. Lamar Goree (LG): As a school system, we’re certainly always looking for those opportunities to increase the opportunity for students to link high school and college, and be career ready. So we’re always looking for those amazing partnerships… I’m always looking for opportunities to partner with either private industry and/or colleges or universities, so that we can make sure that we are providing students with those internships, and those opportunities for them to truly find what their passion is.
A lot of this work in the K-12 setting is starting as early as sixth grade now, where we’re starting those interest inventories, so that we can begin to build upon that graduation plan for students to reach their full potential. When we look at our opportunity to partner with Grambling State University as well as with Cyber.org, we see this as capturing children at a very, very early age to introduce them to something that we know will lead to a productive career opportunity.
Even if it’s not in cybersecurity… it’s going to give students skills that they need to be successful in many jobs that we know will exist as we go into the future.
What are the diversity implications of establishing a program like this?
LG: First off, our Caddo Parish Public Schools is one of the largest school systems in North Louisiana, with about 37,000 students. We do have a high percentage of our students that are in poverty – about 72%. And we have a large minority population, with about 66% of our children being minorities, with about 63% being African American… That’s a space where that HBCU connection, and that connection to our African American community, as well as the skills that Cyber.org will bring to this conversation, will be very valuable as they move forward.
What I’d add to that, too, is that we have a lot of minority children who will be first generation college-goers. Now when you talk about the biggest challenges around being a first-gen, one is knowing how to navigate the system. We see this partnership as an early introduction to college life and what it’s like to matriculate at a college, and that’s going to also be a very important part of this relationship. They will get to know so much more about Grambling State University, while learning about cybersecurity and all the opportunities that it brings.
And… I’m really excited about those other historically black colleges and universities looking at this specific program and how this is going to help us change the trajectory of black and brown children, and underserved children, from a socioeconomic perspective as we move forward.
So what is the university’s role in all this?
LG: If you talk to Dr. Gallot at Grambling, he’ll tell you that it’s really about how we create this seamless transition from age 12 to freshman year in college. How do we make sure that through our cyber curriculum and implementation, we create an experience that [students are] excited about? How do we create that level of energy around this so that they want to do that extra work? Also, I love the idea of how we bring financial aid to them, how we make sure that those freshmen seminar classes and those advanced placement opportunities are all offered to them.
I tell people all the time, [look for] the diamonds in the rough. You’ve always got to identify that child who is extremely special, innately gifted, in these areas and make sure that we’re putting extra work into that. Then the advantage to Grambling State University, of course, is that they’re getting first shot at those students. But more importantly to us, we’re producing children that are not only going to graduate high school, but that are going to go on and graduate from college.
Up until now, what has been the state of Caddo Parish Public Schools’ cybersecurity curriculum, and how will this new pilot program improve upon it?
Since [I became] superintendent seven years ago, we’ve always talked about needing to focus on more STEM – how we infuse science, technology, engineering and math. And not only [examining] what children are doing in their science classes, but looking at that from a cross-curricular perspective. And we really started that work aggressively at the elementary school.
Just last year, we had our first K-8 STEM school where the school is totally embedded in those concepts around preparing students for STEM learning. We see this cyber innovation as totally enriching that opportunity at the two high schools where we are at doing this implementation. We see this changing the game.
