Air Force Association Announces Middle School Cyber Program

ARLINGTON, Va., April 11, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Air Force Association announced today the expansion of its highly successful National High School Cyber Defense Competition, CyberPatriot, to middle schools beginning in the summer of 2013.

The CyberPatriot Middle School Program, developed in cooperation with the Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security at the University of Texas at San Antonio, will allow middle school students to benefit from cyber security training similar to that which high school students have been experiencing since 2009.

"As a high school program, CyberPatriot has drawn enormous attention at the national level since its inception," CyberPatriot Commissioner Bernie Skoch said. "But a message we have received frequently is 'Now please do something to excite our middle school students about cyber security!'  On behalf of the Air Force Association, I can only say 'Message received!'"

The CyberPatriot Middle School program will begin with a lead pilot program in the Los Angeles Unified School District in late summer.  The program will be expanded to more pilot areas in October 2013, centering on CyberPatriot's growing network of Centers of Excellence.  It will be made available to school districts everywhere in 2014.

CyberPatriot is the premiere national high school cyber defense competition created by the Air Force Association to inspire high school students toward careers in cybersecurity or other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines critical to our nation's future. Its presenting sponsor is the Northrop Grumman Foundation. The program has grown from only eight teams of Florida high school students in 2009 to a national competition with over 1,200 registered teams in all 50 states and Canada in 2012. For more information please visit www.uscyberpatriot.org or contact [email protected].

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 105,000 members. Visit AFA at www.afa.org.

SOURCE Air Force Association

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