Louisa County Public Schools, in Mineral, Virginia, is one of five Rural Tech Project finalist teams readying students to enter the workforce with industry credentials or pursue postsecondary programs. Louisa’s Cybersecurity Program offers both two-year and four-year pathways — including opportunities for work-based learning and attaining CompTIA and TestOut credentials. Building on its work during the U.S. Department of Education’s Rural Tech Project, the Louisa team is now scaling the program to four neighboring counties.
Students in the Cybersecurity Program have meaningful opportunities to engage with industry experts, including through a speaker series with leaders from Dominion Energy, Rapid Ascent, and Special Aerospace Security Services. Nine students have participated in paid work-based learning opportunities, obtaining over 1,500 collective hours of on-the-job training. Louisa also secured an apprenticeship for students with Boeing. Going forward, Louisa students can earn up to nine college credits from Reynolds Community College for completing cybersecurity courses.
Louisa surveyed students to gather feedback on their cybersecurity course experiences. Students highlighted the hands-on activities, sharing that they particularly enjoyed working in Louisa’s cybersecurity lab and solving problems with real-world applications. From the first to second year of the program, Louisa saw a 33% student enrollment increase. We spoke with Bo Bundrick (Director of CTE and Workforce Development at Louisa County Public Schools) and Crystal Torbush (Cybersecurity Instructor at Louisa County High School) about the impact of their program. They shared advice for other schools and their takeaways as they have advanced their program over the past two academic years.
Tell us more about the impact of your program — what outcomes are you most proud of?
Crystal: I’m most proud of the fact that our students are graduating with not only the skill, but the theory. They have the opportunity to graduate with multiple certifications in the cybersecurity field.
TestOut started as its own program and then they were bought by CompTIA. TestOut can be used either as a facilitated course where you can learn on your own with just a little bit of teacher input or it can be really just a great tool. Students will learn theory that will help them prepare for the CompTIA written part. And then all of the theory goes hand in hand with the skill that they need. Once they finish with the TestOut certification, they should be able to go on to the CompTIA. So when I’m teaching theory for CompTIA, I can back that up with the skill that’s in TestOut and show them this is the skill part, this is the theory part.
Bo: I’m very excited that we have students that could have three courses under their belt, two to three credentials, and also the ability to go into the workforce and/or postsecondary with a potential nine credits for one of our community colleges. In terms of work-based learning, the initial position that they can acquire is in the school system through our technology department. And they can start at the age of 16 while they’re enrolled in cyber courses. And then we have 13 business partners that are currently on board to help us revise curriculum, educate our students, and also hire after graduation. That collaboration is growing each semester, so now that we’ve built that ground-level framework, we have so much more to offer them in these new courses ahead.
Crystal: Work-based learning has gone from a plan of action where we’re talking about it to actual implementation. The students really look forward to that component and they’re super excited to get into the school to work. They’re excited about the outside opportunities that we have and that is one of the main things that students are always coming to us to look for — when can we get internships? It’s gone from a little bit of interest to this mass amount of interest for all of our students.
We have 13 business partners that are currently on board to help us revise curriculum, educate our students, and also hire after graduation. That collaboration is growing each semester, so now that we’ve built that ground-level framework, we have so much more to offer them in these new courses ahead.
Bo Bundrick
What advice would you have for other schools looking to start a new technology education program?
Crystal: For me, it would be to learn with the students and take as many professional developments as possible. Really give students ownership because cybersecurity is such a diverse topic. There can be cyber in any related field — whether it’s culinary, cosmetology, nursing, or auto. So let the students have some ownership in what they want to learn. You’re going to have the software side and the hardware side, so one does not fit all. Letting them have a choice and a say in their learning actually helps them to grow and be better in their field. That’s my suggestion on how to get students engaged and really grow the program.
Bo: With the hat that I wear with program replication and marketing for the state, we spoke to the superintendents and school board members at a local conference recently. Being able to share what we’ve learned through our work — how we’ve had to revise curriculum and build programs to match what the students need — has been a great collaboration among folks in my seat across the state. And then offering the virtual class this coming semester for our region, to students outside of our classroom, has been a big hit.
Crystal: Another thing that I would tell other schools is get involved with a NICE framework. It really does give teachers a say in how the development of the course is going to go, because eventually the goal is to make cybersecurity a nationally aligned curriculum. So no matter where you go and what state or what school, the students are going to be taught the same. If you jump on that bandwagon quickly as an educator, you’re going to be at the forefront of building that — and you’re also going to have an endless amount of network resources available to you.
Really give students ownership because cybersecurity is such a diverse topic. There can be cyber in any related field — whether it’s culinary, cosmetology, nursing, or auto.
Crystal Torbush
What surprised you the most? What do you know now that you didn’t know at the beginning of this project?
Crystal: For me, it was the diversity of cybersecurity. Coming into it, I did not know that cybersecurity was as broad as it is. That was a big thing for me to realize and see that you can’t learn everything even in three years — it’s an ongoing thing. That was enlightening for me, and I wish I knew that in the beginning because it would have helped me restructure sooner where I’m at now with the students.
Bo: I would echo that too with the diversity in the programming. What’s been very helpful is when industry partners come in and speak to us and say, “Hey, this is what we’re looking for. This is what Company X is looking for.” Crystal’s done a great job in the classroom of giving them the fundamentals and the groundwork. But as far as the advancement, it’s been great to have that industry feedback.
Looking ahead: The grand-prize winner announcement and new resources
The Louisa finalist team currently awaits the announcement of the Rural Tech Project grand-prize winner. Early this fall, the U.S. Department of Education will announce the winner, which will receive an additional $100,000. The challenge is also working with each finalist team to compile and publish lessons learned as a resource for other communities. The teams have all demonstrated that rural communities are powerful centers for educational innovation; their program models can be adapted by other schools across the country to create technology education programs that increase access to careers across industries.