AFA's CyberPatriot CyberCamp Program to be Launched in Partnership with Texas Woman's University

ARLINGTON, Va., June 26, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Preparations for the Air Force Association's first ever CyberPatriot CyberCamp pilot are underway in Texas. Bernie Skoch, CyberPatriot National Commissioner, and staff will visit Texas Woman's University (TWU) July 14, 2014 to teach twenty high school student campers about online safety and cybersecurity.

The CyberCamp program was developed by the CyberPatriot National Youth Cyber Education Program to allow educational institutions and school districts to engage students in cyber education year round. Pending successful pilots at TWU and CyberPatriot Centers of Excellence later this summer, the CyberCamp program will be released to organizations nationwide in fall 2014. The CyberCamp kit consists of instruction modules, demonstration software, and competition software. During the hands-on camps, students will learn important skills in cybersecurity, protecting a network, identifying potential threats, making systems more secure, and protecting themselves on the Internet.

"CyberPatriot's National Youth Cyber Defense Competition has been enormously successful.  Our competition has grown from a modest pilot program of eight teams of high school students--all in Florida--in 2009 to over 1,500 teams last season in all 50 states, Canada, and at US Department of Defense Schools on Europe and the Pacific," said Bernie Skoch, CyberPatriot National Commissioner.  "After hearing from schools asking for more participation year round, in addition to our competition that begins each October and continues to March, we decided to develop the CyberCamp program."

"We could not have asked for a better host for our first CyberCamp pilot. Texas Woman's University's has not only continued to expand programs preparing its students for careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, but through the CyberCamp will also expose local high school students to higher education opportunities in STEM fields," Commissioner Skoch went on to say.

CyberPatriot's presenting sponsor is the Northrop Grumman Foundation. Other sponsors include Cyber Diamond sponsors AT&T Federal and the AT&T Foundation, Cisco, Microsoft, Raytheon, USA Today, the U.S. Department of  Homeland Security, the Office of the Secretary of Defense; Cyber Gold sponsors URS, Splunk,  and Symantec; and Cyber Silver sponsors Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, and University of Maryland University College.

Registration for the CyberPatriot VII competition season is underway. Over 450 teams have already registered to compete, representing 40 states and including teams from Puerto Rico, Canada, and U.S. Department of Defense Dependent Schools in Germany. For more information about how to participate, visit www.uscyberpatriot.org.

The Air Force Association is a non-profit, independent, professional military and aerospace education association. Our mission is to promote a dominant United States Air Force and a strong national defense, and to honor Airmen and our Air Force Heritage. To accomplish this, we:

• EDUCATE the public on the critical need for unmatched aerospace power and a technically superior workforce to ensure U.S. national security.
• ADVOCATE for aerospace power and STEM education.
• SUPPORT the Total Air Force family and promote aerospace education.

AFA has 200 chapters nationally and internationally representing more than 100,000 members. Visit AFA at www.afa.org.

SOURCE Air Force Association

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