Four-Week Summer Program in Cyber Security for High School Students: Practice and Experience Report

Cyber security education and outreach is a national priority. It is critical to encourage high school students to pursue studies in cyber security and related fields. High school outreach is a fundamental component of a cohesive cyber security education program. Most high school outreach programs in cyber security focus on short-term events such as a capture the flag contest or the CyberPatriot competition. While a competitive event is engaging for high school students, it does not give a comprehensive overview of cyber security education and careers.

We explored the use of a four-week, hands-on, intensive summer programfor engaging and encouraging high school students to pursue cyber security education and careers. The program brings high school students and high school teachers onto the university campus to interact with university professors and university students.