Suffern High School Implements Innovative Cybersecurity Class

Turn on the news on any given day, and there is a high likelihood a story concerning cybersecurity – a word that was not added to the dictionary until 1989 – will be on the docket. For students enrolled in Cyber 1 and 2 at Suffern High School, cybersecurity has become a part of their daily vocabulary. 

This class was brought to Suffern High School by the nonprofit Digital Promise. Digital Promise works to provide equitable solutions for education through technology, and through their connection with the League of Innovative Schools they began asking districts around the country – what if these schools implemented cybersecurity at the high school level? 10 districts responded to this call, including Suffern High. Assistant Principal James Douglass shared how this program is exposing students to a new and growing career path in a fun and engaging way. “[The students]…are playing with the curriculum first, learning about it, [then] hands on right away”. The class also has an “advisory council” composed of professionals in the field who engage with the students to expose them to the range of work possible with a job in cybersecurity.

These cyber skills are tools that Suffern high schoolers will be able to take with them throughout their lives. When they graduate, students will have the opportunity to continue on in the cybersecurity realm by going directly into the field, or by continuing to pursue their studies in higher education. Suffern High School has worked with Mount St. Mary College to ensure that students can receive three college credits in cybersecurity, and Rockland Community College has now instituted a cybersecurity program, “so if a student wants to stay local, they can get a certificate for a two year program in our own backyard”, says Douglass. 

Even if students choose to not pursue cybersecurity professionally, they are able to utilize their more-than-basic understanding of cybersecurity in daily life, no matter their role. With an increasingly cybercentered world and new phishing scams popping up seemingly every week, these cyber skills have become highly desirable in work and life. 

For Ariel Sanzo, the teacher of Cybersecurity 1 and 2, it’s not just about learning the hard skills to code and hack – it’s about the ethics and social skills that accompany them. “These are skills that people have innately in them, and then we’re also trying to bring out of them through the curriculum” says Sanzo. This looks like a focus on ethical decision making, working collaboratively, articulating themselves to others clearly, and self-advocacy.

Sanzo states that one of her favorite things to do with her students to bolster these skills is to place them in groups and have them undergo what she calls “productive struggle”. Following Covid, she believes this productive struggle is more important than ever. “You have to work to articulate yourself and work with people who understand things differently than you, who express themselves differently than you… It’s important because if you have to call customer service, how are you going to advocate for yourself?”. 

The students buzz with excitement about these skills and the ability to apply them to the real world. When asked about using their hacking powers for good, several of the students shared with RCT that companies will provide rewards if hackers are able to break through the protections on their sites. One student shared how he looks forward to hopefully merging his love of sports and cybersecurity. “Pretty much all companies now are going to have some department of cybersecurity, even the NBA. So, if I wanted to work for the NBA I could through cybersecurity”. Another student shared how he found the idea of protecting sensitive medical information an interesting prospect, harkening back to the ideals of ethical coding and hacking that Sanzo has infused in all her students. 

In schools around the country, post-Covid attendance and engagement numbers have struggled to keep up with their pre-Covid statistics. In an article published by the American Enterprise Institute in early 2024, “the national average chronic absenteeism rate increased from 15% in 2019 to 28% in 2022 and remained substantially elevated in 2023”. Attendance is a key factor for success, and many schools are finding the best way to increase attendance is to increase engagement. Education must keep up with students to be applicable to their time, something Suffern’s cybersecurity classes seems to be achieving. 

Students from Cyber 2 emphasized how they feel that this class directly corresponds to their efforts and collaboration. They were excited about Sanzo’s encouragement in their learning, stating how Sanzo “…says [students] can go on other websites that are trusted and find the information…You’re not limited to certain handouts”. Another student followed quickly, stating “It’s not as much about getting the ‘right answer’. It’s about learning… it’s not ‘you need to get this now’… it’s [more] like you’ve got to learn how to do it because it’s important to future jobs”. The students feel that this class is one that is different from other electives, in that it will help them get jobs and has opened new doors for them. 

Digital Promise hopes to measure success in this class mainly by recording the retention rates and the diversity of students in the classroom. “How can we make sure that we’re retaining the students who may not be represented in the pathways normally?” states Kristian Lenderman, the Project Director at the Center for Inclusive Innovation at Digital Promise. Eventually, Digital Promise hopes to learn from the 10 districts who have undertaken this innovative class and to “bring these pathways more into rural environments and rural districts” shares Kimberly Smith, the Chief Inclusive Innovation Officer at Digital Promise. 

Sanzo highlights how this class has also engaged students in the news, recalling students coming up to her mentioning cybersecurity events they had seen. “I think this class helps them realize they are active participants [in society],” says Sanzo. With the culmination of the cybersecurity classes ending in an exam that would give students a credential allowing them to go directly into the workforce, this class is making their active participation all the more real.