Gov. Abbott has decided that the state of TX will join the CyberStart America program, sponsored by the National Cyber Scholarship Foundation (NCSF) along with the SANS Institute. | Photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash
Gov. Abbott has decided that the state of TX will join the CyberStart America program, sponsored by the National Cyber Scholarship Foundation (NCSF) along with the SANS Institute.
The program is an online cybersecurity game and competition, that also serves as a talent searching opportunity. High school TX students would be eligible to participate in the program, and compete to win scholarships and recognition for their schools. The competition would consist of various cybersecurity-related puzzles and games ranging from code-breaking to programming and networking. The program can be included within a teacher’s curriculum as homework assignments or part of an extra-curricular program- students are also free to participate on their own if they desire.
Abbott praised the opportunities of the program, saying “This exciting program builds on our statewide efforts to provide innovative learning opportunities and technology skills that will be relevant to students in any career path.” CyberStart also builds upon its pilot program (known as Girls Go CyberStart), which sought to increase female representation within the STEM field. Abbott added “These competitions offer fun activities for young women and men to explore and learn about the high-tech, high-impact field of cybersecurity.”
The program is free to all teachers and students, and requires no previous knowledge of IT or cybersecurity in order to participate. Students who reach at least Level 5 of the competition will advance to the national level for scholarship eligibility. For the 2021 competition, NCSF anticipates providing approximately $2 million in various scholarships to the top 600 performing students across the U.S.
Registration for the competition is already open with the program beginning on Nov. 15, and running until Feb. 28, 2021. Complete registration and details can be found online at www.cyberstartamerica.org, and interested individuals can also visit https://go.cyberstart.com to see the kinds of challenges that students will face within the program.
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