Poly Launches Maryland’s First High School Cyber Range
Baltimore Polytechnic Institute (Poly) is the first high school in Maryland to install a "cyber range" cybersecurity learning environment, as announced at a ribbon-cutting ceremony this week.
The BCR Cyber Series 3000 Cyber Range provides hands-on, realistic cyber-attack simulations at a caliber typically not available at the high school level. The system, installation, and training were donated by BCR Cyber, which was co-founded by and is led by Poly alumni.
Mark T. Sawyer, principal of Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, thanked BCR Cyber "for making an investment that will have an impact beyond today."
Sawyer continued, "Equipment is important, but opportunity is what truly changes lives and that is what we are placing in the hands of our students. My hope is that our graduates will lead cybersecurity teams and develop solutions to problems we haven’t even imagined yet. They will be able to look back and say it started right here."
Phases of Poly's pilot will include staff training, student access through coursework this school year, and a dual enrollment pathway in cybersecurity education.
BCR Cyber has spent nearly 10 years training people for cybersecurity jobs by placing the cyber range in each of the state's community colleges with grant support from the Maryland Department of Labor.
The state is addressing a need for 30,000 trained workers in this industry through its Cyber Workforce Accelerator (CWA) initiative. Students will build skills toward meeting the CWA’s Security Operations Center Operations Analyst I (SOCOA I) entry standard.
Co-founder and Poly alumnus Bruce Spector recalled that when he was in high school, Poly prepared students for white-collar and blue-collar jobs.
He referred to opportunities in cybersecurity as "new-collar jobs," where skills and ability are as important as academic preparation.
This is one way that Baltimore City Public Schools is fully committed to delivering on the promise that every student graduates career ready, future ready, and world ready.