The Arkansas Department of Education Office of Computer Science is happy to announce its support and participation in an innovative cybersecurity training partnership
with the SANS Institute, the largest provider of cybersecurity training and
certification for professionals in government and commercial institutions
worldwide. The partnership aims to inspire the next generation of cybersecurity
professionals and identify talented youth in Arkansas.
Open to female high school students,
the Girls Go CyberStart initiative encourages participants to explore their
interests in cyber studies, learn core cybersecurity skills, and build
confidence in problem solving.
Girls Go CyberStart is a free,
online game open to all female students in grades 9 through 12, regardless of
their prior knowledge or experience with cybersecurity and information
technology. Playing alone or on teams, participants solve challenges to gain
points and advance through levels, earning prizes along the way. In addition to
individual prizes, such as trips, gift certificates, and computers, the three
in-state schools with the most participants win monetary prizes.
Though thousands of students
participated in the CyberStart program when it was launched in 2017 by the SANS
Institute, SANS noticed a notable deficit in participation by young women, who represented
only 5 percent of the first-round participants. The Girls Go CyberStart
initiative is the direct result of that discovery and is designed to
specifically engage female high school students.
In the 2018-2019 school year, 524
girls from 29 Arkansas high schools participated in Girls Go CyberStart and won
a total of $7,050 in scholarships and gift cards for themselves and their
schools. Teams from Greenbrier and Lake Hamilton High Schools were ranked
highest. The Arkansas Department of Education collaborated to encourage young
women to register and participate in this exciting opportunity and plans to do
so again this year.
Teacher information and student
practice programs are available now.
Registration for Girls Go CyberStart is now open, with
gaming commencing on January 13, 2020. Additional details and preregistration
can be found at www.girlsgocyberstart.org.
Additional data on
teacher development programs are posted at
https://medium.com/girls-go-cyberstart/mrsgcyberstarttips/home
For a quick look at some of the
challenges, visit the CyberStart
Go website (https://go.joincyberstart.com/)