ST. LOUIS – Midwest Cyber Center was one of the distinguished organizations across the United States selected to participate in the fourth season of the Air Force Association’s (AFA) CyberCamp Program this summer.
As an AFA CyberCamp host, MC² received software and a hands-on curriculum kit designed to teach students cyber safety, cyber ethics, and critical network security skills and tools. Each AFA CyberCamp culminates in an exciting team-based competition that puts the campers in the role of IT administrators tasked with finding and addressing cybersecurity vulnerabilities in simulated network environments. The local AFA CyberCamp competitions will closely mimic AFA’s annual CyberPatriot National Youth Cyber Defense Competition, which will enter its eleventh season in October.
Get The Latest News!
Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.
More than 50 students participated in the AFA CyberCamp at Ranken, which was held June 18 to June 22, led by volunteer cyber advisors from Eagle Technology, 375th Comm Sq, AFNIC, 835thCOS and 837th COS and supported by MC².
Molly Stewart, one of the volunteers from Eagle TG, stated “The camp definitely opened up a new world to the kids who were there for the first time. They were excited to learn they could set up and use free tools to continue their learning on their own at home. They were very focused!”
This is the third year MC² has brought AFA Cyber Camps to the St. Louis region. This is the first time partnering with Ranken, but both partners anticipating growing on the success of the event and hosting them again in 2019. “The Cybersecurity camp taught valuable lessons to the students on how to protect themselves and property from the many threats we face today in the cyber world. Lessons from operating systems to encryption was covered in the week-long class,” stated Alan Poettker, Ranken Technical College.
The CyberPatriot National Youth Cyber Education Program was created by the Air Force Association in 2009 to attract students to c?ybersecurity and other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines critical to our nation's future. “CyberPatriot is an amazing program which offers a robust curriculum and challenges for students to learn the basics of cybersecurity, stated Tony Bryan, Executive Director of MC². We are proud to lead the regional efforts for CyberPatriot and will continue to promote and advocate for the program’s success.”
More like this:
