ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. — The U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM) officially welcomed eight local high school students as federal employees during an official swearing-in ceremony Feb. 12, 2024, at CECOM’s headquarters in Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD.
The students are the first group of Joppatowne High School pupils participating in the Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) program who are also taking part in this capstone internship project at CECOM. The students will work at CECOM for an eight-week paid internship before graduating from the P-TECH program.
This internship is the capstone project for the P-TECH Program. It allows P-TECH students to gain valuable, real-world experience implementing the skills they have learned in the classroom and develop new and marketable skills that will ultimately help prepare them to enter the IT workforce in the future.
The workplace setting of CECOM and APG not only gives the students an avenue to work directly with Army Civilian and uniformed professionals in a federal defense-based atmosphere, but in-turn also provides the Army a way to connect with the next generation of employees. Initiatives like P-TECH are vital to ensuring our federal workplace is a true reflection of our community and our future employees are prepared and ready to defend the Nation.
THE STUDENT JOURNEY
Each student participating in P-TECH has the chance to grow and learn in government-related career fields. CECOM provides students with a multitude of opportunities at APG if they so choose.
The swearing-in ceremony is representative of the students’ new commitment to a selfless, greater purpose while becoming part of an integral team of Department of the Army Civilians who proudly serve the country and support our military men and women in uniform.
The newly sworn-in interns started working with their P-TECH mentors in the ninth grade, so they are already at an advantage in the competitive STEM career field.
STEM careers are evergreen in a fast-growing technological based society, and the P-TECH program builds the next STEM-minded generation while fostering a positive value-driven mentality for young adults. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor of Statistics, STEM careers will increase 10.5% from 2020 to 2030. The average median wage for STEM workers is $95,420, and that varies based on STEM profession, experience, and training.
CECOM and APG offer valuable experiences and perspectives for these prospective STEM and cybersecurity-focused interns during their six-week internship.
Riley Cox, a rising 12th grade student at JHS and P-TECH participant, is one of the students who was sworn-in as a federal employee with CECOM and expressed his eagerness to get started working the internship.
“I’m mostly excited about just learning what it’s like to have a job,” he said. “I haven’t had a job before, so I know this will give me good experience.”
Riley, who has been with the P-TECH program since his freshmen year in high school, explained why CECOM is somewhere where he can see himself working in the future.
“I’ve been interested in working here [CECOM] since I started [the program],” he said. “When I first got a tour here, I was excited, working with all the military tech.”
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
P-TECH combines the best elements of high school, college, and work-based learning. Participating students are immersed in high school, as well as college courses, all while working in the field of computer information systems or cybersecurity. The program empowers students to pursue advanced education and to be professionally successful, at no cost to the student, their parent or guardian.
Students in the program attend high school classes while also earning credit toward an associate degree. Students can complete both a four-year high school diploma and a two-year associate degree in less than six years. The program meets the needs of every high school student who wishes to graduate from high school with a free community college degree in four to six years.
The P-TECH program works to expand students' educational skills through a technical and work-based learning setting, gaining relevant real-world workplace experience while building innovative and creative portfolios for participating students. The program offers the students individualized mentoring at every level of participation.
P-TECH is offered at JHS in partnership with Harford Community College and CECOM on APG and is open to any rising ninth grader at JHS.
Former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan supported bringing P-TECH to the state back in 2016 because of how beneficial the program could be to students and the local economy. Now, eight years later, P-TECH is presented at eight different schools throughout the state, providing Maryland students a pathway from high school to college to career; opening a steady flow of young, educated professionals into Maryland’s workforce.
CECOM partnered with Harford County Public Schools and Harford Community College to implement P-TECH and provide workplace experience for local students. The program distinctively works to develop the kind of innovative and technically minded future workforce needed by CECOM and other APG research, development, testing and acquisition leaders.
CONNECTED TO THE COMMUNITY
Programs like P-TECH reaffirm CECOM, APG and the Army’s commitment to providing greater educational experiences to all students in the local community. An important goal of the program partnership is educating young people in Harford County and helping them gain a better understanding of APG's mission for the Army and our nation.
Partnerships between CECOM, Harford County Public Schools, and HCC are essential to ensuring students graduate on track to pursue their chosen cybersecurity or IT career. P-TECH proves how support from local businesses and leaders in the community can make a difference to students.
CECOM’s command chief warrant officer and long-time supporter and mentor of the program, Chief Warrant Officer 5 Linc McCoy, was in attendance during the ceremony, and has previously spoke about the importance of having more local students in the P-TECH program.
“What it [P-TECH] does is it allows them [students] to see what’s outside the constraints of the community, and if they’re introduced to what’s outside that means the possibilities are endless,” said McCoy.
With more students attending, earning the program benefits, and seeing themselves grow within the program, McCoy believes there will be an uptick in P-TECH enrollment moving forward.
According to McCoy, a child’s environment can dictate their future career and life outcome, and that environment can be a positive catalyst.
“Many individuals if they grow into a certain situation will tend to want to hang out there because they are accustomed to the setting, to their family, and community,” said McCoy. “CECOM is part of that community, CECOM is part of their family!”
Another benefit from the program is continuity for participating students, as they connect with their peers and mentors, like CW5 McCoy, over the entire course of the four-year program.
“[The students] They bring that education and expertise they’ve been learning over the course of four years of high school, their experience through internships, and they bring all that into one full circle,” said McCoy. “It also brings the opportunity for each individual that grows up in this community to work with CECOM, and then give back to their community. When you see someone who looks like yourself and has been through the same lifestyle you had, you are more prone to say, I can see myself doing that.”
McCoy said connecting with P-TECH was “one of the most memorable moments of his military career,” and that he feels his “contribution did something impactful” for students in the local community.
A WAY FORWARD
The P-TECH program is currently looking for individuals interested in being mentors for the next cohort of students.
For any Army employees considering taking a mentor role in P-TECH, there are positions available. Any Harford County rising ninth grader can apply to the program as a student. Anyone interested or has questions about the mentorship portion of the program can reach out to Cassandra Boyer at cassandra.y.boyer.civ@army.mil or call 410-688-3005 for more information.
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