Modesto Junior College is hosting a CyberPatriot Summer Boot Camp for high school students from July 22 through 26, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the Center for Advanced Technologies on East Campus.
This is the second summer that MJC has hosted a cyber camp through a partnership with the National Youth Cyber Education Program, Stanislaus County Office of Education, Modesto City Schools, Patterson School District, Ceres School District and Turlock School District.
The camp is an introduction to the ongoing national CyberPatriot program, which trains middle school and high school students for the critical careers in cyber security. Five local high schools now have CyberPatriot teams and others are interested in developing them. The camp is funded by the Strong Workforce initiative and is free for student participants and CyberPatriot advisors. Lunch and snacks are provided each day.
The CyberPatriot program was established by the Air Force Association and is designed to attract participants to careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) – including cybersecurity fields. This year’s camp participants will spend five days learning hands-on cybersecurity principles that include cyber safety and how to protect personal devices, and Windows and Linux system security. They will also compete against students in other cyber camps across the nation.
“We are especially proud of the student success of our first-year Enochs High team,” said Brent Wedge, professor of Computer Science at MJC. “Earlier this year students from the Enochs team presented a beautiful trophy to the mayor of Modesto during a City Council meeting from their victory at the California Mayors Cyber Cup challenge hosted by Fresno City College. The Enochs team will be representing the Central Valley region at a statewide competition hosted by Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo in June. We hope this encourages additional high school CyberPatriot teams to form in the fall.”
Participants must commit to attending all five days. Space is limited to 60 student participants and reservations may be made online at https://mjccyberpatriotcamp.eventbrite.com. A train-the-trainer opportunity is available for high school teachers and CyberPatriot coaches.
MJC held the first local CyberPatriot Camp for three days in August of 2018, introducing more than 40 high school students from around the county to the principles and skills of cyber security. Participants learned about cyber ethics, online safety, how computers work, and cyber threats. They worked on small teams, competing with other students around the country in a national cyber security competition.
According to CyberSeek.org (https://www.cyberseek.org/heatmap.html) there are currently over 300,000 cybersecurity jobs open in the United States, including over 36,000 in California. The cybersecurity job report predicts there will be 3.5 million cybersecurity job openings by 2021 (https://cybersecurityventures.com/jobs). The median salary for professionals in these jobs is $90,120.
For more information, contact Brent Wedge, MJC professor of Computer Science at 575-7760 or wedgeb@mjc.edu.
