Appalachian Solutions Teacher Academy (ASTA) II

ASTA II Application

GenCyber: Appalachian Solutions Teacher Academy (ASTA II)

Request Information

GenCyber: Appalachian Solutions Teacher Academy includes a one-week in-person session summer training that will assist 10 middle school and 10 high school teachers from any discipline to develop and integrate cyber modules into their classroom. The purpose is to spread awareness in Cybersecurity to students that normally do not have access. Academy participants will engage in hands-on explorations of the many aspects of security including ethics, networks, phishing, social engineering, ethical hacking, and password management/cracking. Academy participants will also develop lesson plans for delivering cybersecurity content in K-12 curricula. The 2024 academy will be open to 10 high school teachers and 10 middle school teachers within the Big Sandy Community & Technical College service area to include Floyd, Martin, Magoffin, Pike and Johnson counties.

Academy participants will explore the world of cybersecurity with experts in the field through fun, real-world learning experiences enhanced by close teacher-student interaction. Camp activities include hands-on exercises, interactive lectures, games, career exploration, and campus tours. To ensure a level playing field, GenCyber camps are open to all teacher participants at no cost. A stipend will be provided for full participation. The GenCyber program is financially supported by the National Science Foundation and the National Security Agency.

Our first GenCyber Appalachian Solutions Teacher Academy in 2022 was great! We provided hands-on activities for educators throughout our service region to use in the classroom to spread the word about Cybersecurity. Did you know that the US has 663,434 jobs open in Cybersecurity and no one to fill them? Go to www.cyberseek.org to see the updated information. Also, we have over 4,293 jobs in Kentucky open currently. To see real-time cyber-attacks, go to: https://threatmap.checkpoint.com/. The video below was created by Jason Kinner after our first ASTA teacher academy. We really thank him for the hard work he did for our camp/college.

Free to all participants
The participants will receive a stipend ($2,500.00, disbursements after reaching pre-defined participation milestones/benchmarks)
The participants will receive free materials for the academy and classroom use.
Automatic membership to our professional learning community (CyberPLC)
Access to a repository of developed lesson plans
Follow-up professional development, including webinars and outreach activities
Meals will be provided throughout the week
Teachers will get an expense paid trip to COSI (Center of Science and Industry) in Columbus, OH in fall 2024.

The camp will be June 10-14, 2024.
The entire training will be in person on the Prestonsburg campus.

Currently employed in a teaching position within a public or private high school/ATC or middle school (6th – 12th grade) in the following counties: Johnson, Floyd, Magoffin, Martin, Pike.
Commitment to participate in the full week of camp.
Must be a U.S. Citizen or permanent resident.

Open to High School and middle school teachers employed within the BSCTC service region. Must be a U.S. Citizen or permanent resident. Women teaching in a STEM or CTE discipline are strongly encouraged to apply. Prior knowledge of computers and cybersecurity is not required.

"This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number 2054966."

"Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.