And now I’ve started clicking on the links on that website …
This the the Air Force programming/games for middle and high schoolers.
https://www.uscyberpatriot.org/Pages/About/What-is-CyberPatriot.aspx
In addition to the sort of games and competitions I was expecting, they also have a cool program where they train the student to teach senior citizens how to recognize cyber threats and scams. What an incredibly cool program. And a neat opportunity for a student to give back to the community!
CC here is not free for HS students, and even DE classes taught by HS teachers have a cost.
It is free at Southwestern College (one I linked). Actually all the San Diego area colleges are free to HS students. High School Students | San Diego Community College District
I suppose it’s not the same elsewhere. But like I said, CC does not restrict enrollment by where you live.
Non-resident tuition at Southwestern College is $393/unit. It’s a great deal, though, for San Diego HS students!
I thought you are in California?
Initial post says that Arizona is in-state for the OP.
Thank you. My bad. I thought I read OP’s old posts about current student applying to CA schools.
Apologies.
Texas high school teacher here. Just to provide some reference.
Our school offers three cybersecurity courses - networking 1, networking 2, and cybersecurity practicum. The curriculum is aligned to train the students to earn CompTIA certifications such as ITF+, Tech+, A+, Net+, security+, Linux+, etc., and to take internships/apprenticeships with local businesses. Half of the graduates attend state colleges and community colleges in cybersecurity major. Other than taking classes, the students also participate in CyberPatriot.
Another reference point. I have had several students who were passionate about history. They went to college major in history, psychology, political science, and business. I was surprised to learn that one of them (poli. sci. major) who claimed to not like math later developed an interest in using R for analyzing qualitative data, and took on internships in some think tank in DC.
Social sciences and applied related fields like business can involve use of statistics and data analysis, so some level of comfort using math and statistics is certainly helpful, even if the person does not love math or statistics like a math or statistics major would.
Our son is an Army Cyber officer currently serving in an elite unit with Cyber Joint Forces attached to the Pentagon at Ft. Meade, MD. He spent most of his middle school and high school years pursuing his interest in cinematography. He had exactly three ECs: rowing, film club (which he started freshman year), and Boy Scouts (Eagle). He did not take any AP classes as those were not the most rigorous his HS offered, but he did sit for the APUSH, Calc, Physics, and Chemistry exams and earned 5s on all four. He blew us away at the beginning of junior year telling us he wanted to apply to service academies instead of USC for film school. (Kids. Can’t control 'em.)
At West Point, he majored in EE with a concentration in robotics, not CS because he validated much of the CS curriculum prior to Plebe year, and WP thought the broader skillset more valuable to the Army. (Though he is currently earning his master’s in CS from Georgia Tech.) As a cadet, he competed on the Cyber team and earned one of the 25 Cyber branch slots prior to commissioning.
Though our son always seemed have his head in digital film production, his real interest was the cameras and the editing software. He taught himself Python in middle school and was fluent in C, C++, JavaScript, and Linux shell scripting before college. He was always coding and self-teaching. Always.
I’m relating our son’s story because, of all the good replies above, I have to concur 1000% with @Shadret’s post. It bears re/reading. Cyber security requires a deep understanding of computer systems and networks from the hardware up. Computer languages and Unix-flavor operating system expertise (at both the chip and kernel levels) are basic requirements because they are foundational to the environment the experts live and work in. There is no “casual” knowledge of these.
This comment is concerning. Strong math comprehension is fundamental to Cyber work, and two years of math (post Calc) is just the beginning. In this regard, our son may be an outlier, but his math prowess is more than partly responsible for his value to Army Cyber operations and why he is where he is now.
We, too, are in Arizona, but our son had no difficulty taking Algebra I at our local community college (PV/Scottsdale area) the summer before 9th grade. Due to his age at the time, the CC required a pre-test, but he qualified and earned an A in the course. In HS, he aced Calc BC, then validated the Plebe math curriculum at West Point and was placed into something they call “Jedi Math.” From there he moved through multi-variable Calc, differential equations, number theory, discrete math, etc. Most of the Cyber officers he works with have similar aptitude. It’s not that they work on math problems directly (well, sometimes they do), it’s that the way their brains are wired and their ability to think clearly in mathematical space directly apply to solving Cyber problems. (As an aside, many of them are very good chess players, too.)
I apologize if this sounds like a brag on our son, but I mean it to describe the level of intense interest, dedication, and skill required to succeed in today’s professional Cyber world. I applaud the OP’s daughter’s interest and concur with @blossom that she does not have to focus on any particular field while in high school; specializing comes later. However, learning at least one programming language (Python is a good start) and doing well in the highest level math courses available to her are foundational for Cyber if that remains her goal.
Community colleges classes for California high school students are free. We’re just learning that now in 11/12th grade. Wish we had known last year!
Thank you for all of this info!
All of the colleges that have cybersecurity degrees or concentrations w/in the computer science department, which end up usually requiring 3 semesters of calculus + a semester of linear algebra, are a huge turn-off for my kid.
For now, I think she’s probably going to take either a Python class at our local community college the summer after next school year or a Python class through that Art of Problem Solving website that somebody posted about earlier, but I’m inclined to do the former instead of the latter because the comm. college Python class we’re eye’ing transfers to Univ of Arizona and meets 1 of the Cyber Operations major requirements, too.
Senior year, D26 will have a lower course load than 11th grade (this is based on the nature of how her HS operates), so if she wanted to take another community college programming class, she’d have the time in 12th grade to do that.
I have been thinking that she’ll need some Linux/Unix knowledge at some point…sounds like some of you think so, too. I appreciate you mentioning it because it kind of confirmed what my gut was telling me.
Her HS has a ‘student ambassadors’ club which she said last night she is thinking of joining next school year…mentoring new students, doing school tours during open house events to new families, that sort of thing. D26 is really introverted, so I am over the moon excited that she wants to do something like this.
I’m the one who posted about the Art of Problem Solving course. My son took both the beginner and advanced course and I was really impressed with it — and I have spent many years as a software developer.
One thing that may be a plus for it is if she ends up not liking programming/python and thus potentially not doing well in it, she doesn’t have to report it to colleges as part of her transcript since it is more of an EC than a college-credit or high school credit class. At least, that is my understanding.
If she does like it / does well in it, though, they will provide an assessment of her participation that can be sent to colleges as an extra.
Editing to say if she takes the course at a CC, it becomes part of her permanent record and has to be submitted to colleges and grad school.
Note that abstract algebra and number theory are relevant for cryptography.
Why is math a huge turn-off?
Note that some CS majors require only calculus 2 and discrete math, although upper level CS theory courses are math like.
Because she struggles at math. Works her butt off to get a B-. Majors that require more than a semester of Calculus are a hard no for her. 1 semester of Calculus + some statistics are ok though.
Harvard online a number of free courses that your daughter can take in python along with other programming languages.
There is a small fee if she wants to get a certificate. She should also look at quantum computing / quantum ai
Also look at open courseware at MIT and Stanford where she may also be able to find some free courses
If you’re in Texas, UTSA has a top cybersecurity program. There’s really no need to do those things in high school because it’s not a difficult specialty to get into, even with a CS or IT degree.
We’re in AZ, but UTSA was 1 of the schools that D26 & I were planning on checking out! 