Cybersecurity Is…

By Dr. Tara Nkrumah

CGEST’s 2nd annual spring Cyber Warrior camp was unlike any other. With energetic and talented participants from two states, Arizona and Baltimore, coming together over four Saturday sessions, students realized commonalities and differences while sharing cybersecurity examples all around them. From the start of the program in January 2022 through mid-February, the four camp mentors worked to foster participant collaboration with their peers on various topics that explored cybersecurity’s ability to define social norms. Setting high expectations for the participants to examine the influence of cybersecurity at the personal and community level, camp mentors encouraged participants to be critical thinkers as part of their culturally responsive teaching style.

For the culminating activity, Cyber Warrior participants also referred to as CompuGirls were given a set of images representing diverse topics to discuss how the images helped them to recall their experience in the cybersecurity camp. Interesting was the varied responses and ease with which participants made connections between cybersecurity content knowledge and real-world issues. Citing examples from lessons learned such as how to code with caesar cipher and encryption, the participants talked about their raised awareness of cybersecurity and opportunities to perform good and bad outcomes.

In sum, the Department of Defense-funded Cyber Warrior camp was an interactive virtual experience that brought together East and West coast learners. They bonded, debated, and encouraged each other as they learned how to advocate for social change through cybersecurity. We hope these friendships will last and transform future communities as they continue to define cybersecurity.

Caption: Participants during a session for the Cyber Warriors Spring 2022 Camp.