Xavier’s Computer Science chair, Leon Tynes, Jr., will oversee a new cybersecurity pilot program offered at the school (photo by Lisa Zuba).
The College Board selected Xavier College Preparatory to pilot a set of career-focused AP cybersecurity courses. The new AP Career Kickstart courses lead to industry-recognized credentials and college credit for all students who want to prepare for a career. Career Kickstart focuses on high-demand fields like cybersecurity and business. Courses are built with industry experts and college faculty to emphasize hands-on experience, professional and technical skills, and credentials valued by industry, helping students stand out to post-secondary institutions and potential employers. Courses are designed to remove barriers, ensure inclusiveness and provide teachers with resources they value.
Xavier’s Computer Science chair Leon Tynes, Jr. said, “We are honored that Xavier College Preparatory has been selected by the College Board as a Cybersecurity Pilot School for these groundbreaking AP courses. As an all-girls institution, we are uniquely positioned to empower young women with the skills and confidence to excel in cybersecurity – an industry where their voices and talents are critically needed. This opportunity will not only strengthen our students’ technical expertise but also inspire them to become the next generation of leaders in STEM and digital security.”
The new AP cybersecurity Networking course follows a first-year college introductory networking course. Students blend essential networking concepts with relevant, hands-on problem-solving activities to maximize their understanding of network hardware, logical and physical configuration, the use of protocols to enable reliable and accurate transmission of data between hosts and relevant security practices that protect the transmission of data within and between computer networks. The course is designed to support student learning no matter a student’s prior content knowledge or academic skills.
The AP CK Cybersecurity class is a broad introduction to the field that aligns closely with a standard first year collegiate introductory cybersecurity course. Students learn about common threats and vulnerabilities, and how those combine to create risk. Students also study the ways that individuals and organizations manage risk, and how risk can be mitigated through a defense-in-depth strategy, and explore specific vulnerabilities, attacks, mitigations and detection measures across a variety of domains including physical spaces, computer networks, devices, and data and applications.
Throughout the course, students consider the impact of cybersecurity on individuals, organizations, societies and governments. Students also engage in a through-course project in which they investigate emerging trends in cybersecurity including the rising role of AI, virtualization, hardware & IoT, and how trends like BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) and WFH (Work From Home) are expanding the attack surface.
Learn more at www.xcp.org.
