Weeklong cyber camp teaches kids computer basics

In today’s quickly changing digital landscape, cybersecurity is more important than ever.

Cybersecurity isn’t just important for individuals and businesses. Cybersecurity is crucial because it safeguards all types of data against theft and loss. The Army, other armed forces and government agencies are critically concerned with protecting our national infrastructure.

The need for a skilled cybersecurity workforce is greater than ever due to the rise in cyber threats, new attackers, and attack vectors.

The U.S Space & Rocket Center’s U.S. Cyber Academy is on the leading edge of recruiting the cybersecurity workforce to provide a new generation of skilled cybersecurity workers for the future.

Heather Roden, director of camp education at U.S. Space Camp, explained how Cyber Academy fits into the constellation of educational programs during an interview in the spacious, new Space Camp Operations Center. “Cyber camp is in our family of Space Camp programs.”

The program is training the basics of computer science topics as well as cyber hygiene. “Cyber hygiene is keeping yourself safe online,” Roden said.

“Depending what age group we’re working with, we have a middle school cyber program and a high school cyber program,” she said. “Depending on which age we’re working with we talk about topics like social media, how to avoid phishing, password safety and other things. That’s cyber hygiene.”

In addition, Cyber Camp introduces middle school kids to malware and what threats are out there and what they need to be aware of. For high school kids instructors talk about cyber-attacks and the different kind of cyber-attacks that can happen.

But before anything else, before they learn about programming languages like Python or cyber-attacks, the students learn about ethics. “One of the biggest things that we start with the week is to talk about ethics,” Roden said. “Because the realm of cyber is something that can be used for good or for bad, we have that big talk right out of the gate on ethics and what is expected by the community and what is expected here at camp.”

Then the kids dig deeper into computer science and programming. They get a little experience with Python as a programming language, and they actually build a pc. The kids will talk about what different hardware goes into it, what each piece does. The campers dig into operating systems information, like what is command lines and what goes on behind the scenes of the operating system.

In addition, the high school program even does “fun things,” like digging a little into digital forensics.

The Cyber Academy is just like the other Space Camp programs; the kids come in on Sunday and they graduate on Friday. All the kids stay on-site; it’s a residence camp. The tuition includes their lodging, all the meals and supplies.

But it’s not just the equipment and facilities that are important to the program, it’s the collaboration with agencies like the FBI that make the program stand out, according to Roden.

“One of the coolest things is that just like in our space programs where we have the DNA of NASA, we work with them, and we tell their story. In our cyber programs we have that with the FBI. Agents with the FBI based at Redstone Arsenal come out and speak to the kids. They support our programs. We talk to them regularly. They give us pointers about what we are teaching,” she said. “They are great about sharing all of that information and it’s a great local connection.”

And it’s not just classroom study and lab work for the kids, according to Roden. “We do a session called ‘Pizza with Professionals.’ We invite cyber professionals in from Redstone Arsenal and all over who come and literally sit down with the kids and have pizza with them.

“We find in that environment, it’s low-key, organic, informal and the kids can ask things they might not have enough nerve to ask in front of everybody,” she said. “Also, the cyber professionals have told us that they get to hear from these kids, some of them have great questions and insight, and they like that.”

So, how did U.S. Space Camp, home to aspiring astronauts and NASA engineers, get into training techno nerds to protect our nations digital infrastructure?

“We ran Cyber Camp for the first time in 2017,” Roden said, trying to remember the timeline. “We were working with UAH at the time, they helped us develop it at the time. They turned the program over to us. It was a high school program at the time. In 2019, we added the middle school program.”

Huntsville, a city always embracing emerging technologies, supports two cyber education programs. There’s the U.S. Cyber Academy at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, but there’s also the Alabama School of Cyber Technology and Engineering. ASCTE is a residential magnet high school serving students throughout Alabama. At U.S. Space Camp Cyber Academy, it’s weeklong and the kids don’t get school credit.

“But we do work with the cyber school, they are another one of our partners,” Roden said. “Some of the ASCTE students volunteer with our cyber camp, and the middle schoolers might go to ASCTE for high school.”

What kind of kids want to spend their free time learning a programming language named Python or learn how to protect their online identity or fend off a cyber-attack?

“It’s a broad spectrum of kids who come here. But most of them are awkward. They have an interest in computers,” Linnie Findlay, a cyber camp crew trainer and counselor, said while helping kids hook up a hard drive. “Most of them spend a lot of time playing video games on the computer. Eventually their dream is to create something using a computer for example their own video game, their own robot, anime even, and artistic stuff. They are all interested in things that are created on a computer.”

Asher Kirkpatrick, 12, from Hartselle, said he wants to follow in his dad’s footsteps. “It’s just really fun. I like to do tech stuff. My dad works on rocket ships, and I’d like to do that.”

Other kids are just looking for something to do, “I think it’s cool and I like computers. Also, I had nothing to do this weekend,” Branden Gunn, from Oakman Middle School in Walker County, said.

But U.S. Space Camp’s Cyber Academy is more than just something to do. It’s preparing kids for tomorrow, Findlay said while grabbing connectors and wires from a box in the airy computer lab with a screaming eagle logo on the wall.

“I would encourage parents to send their kids to cyber camp. The world is moving more into a programming environment. Most of these kids are hard-wired to be able to deal with computers and they understand it better than their parents. In the end they’ll be able to have a career or at least a background where they can apply programming principles in a real-world environment.”