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By Kelsey Kendall 

��������’s ninth annual Summer Cyber Camp welcomed about 30 middle and high school students to campus to gain hands-on experience with hacking into networks, programming mini robot cars and password security. It served as an introduction to cybersecurity and an opportunity to spark the interest of future cybersecurity leaders. 

With globally— more than 50,000 in Virginia — Charlie Kirkpatrick, an �������� senior lecturer in the School of Cybersecurity and camp director, said this was an important first step for some of the campers to launch careers in an exciting and ever-evolving field.  

“What we study is changing all the time,” Kirkpatrick said. “We are working with technologies today that didn’t exist five years ago.”  

The lessons throughout the week incorporated those changes, bringing in artificial intelligence and other technological advances that impact the cybersecurity profession. Campers participated in challenges such as coming up with the most difficult password to crack through hacking and learning how to program a Zumi, a tiny robot car, to navigate an obstacle course so they could compete in a final race at the end of the week. There were also lessons in how to protect a network and the importance of encryption, and the children were introduced to what a career in the field could look like.  

The wide range of jobs within cybersecurity was a surprise to Alia Elzahaby, a 13-year-old attending James Blair Middle School in Norfolk. Amid learning about IP addresses and cipher keys, she learned about careers in the industry for lawyers and realized there were more opportunities than she initially realized.  

Alia wants to be a lawyer, but the camp opened her eyes to different skills and experiences. She attended the camp with her sister, Farida Elzahaby, who is 16 years old and attending Maury High School’s medical program. Both signed up for the camp for the same reason: their mother, Hind Aldabagh, is a doctoral candidate and teaches cybersecurity at ��������, and the girls wanted to learn more about what she does. 

“When I first heard about this opportunity, I was really excited,” Aldabagh said. “I wanted a way to introduce what I’m doing and the nature of my work to my daughters.”  

Alia said she would watch her mother work sometimes and think it looked difficult. Still, she wanted to give it a shot.  

“I thought it would be really cool if I went to this camp so I could learn more about her passion and maybe connect to her that way,” Alia said. “I wanted to know if this would interest me, because I’m her daughter.”  

Farida was similarly inspired by her mother despite not being particularly interested in computers. The camp changed that, though.  

“I’ve never just wanted to sit down at a computer, but this camp changed that,” Farida said. “It’s made me feel like maybe there can be a future in this.” 

Aldabagah said Farida woke up early during camp so she could work on her project, which she considers “proof that she’s enjoying the camp.” 

The campers broke up into groups to work on research presentations on different topics within cybersecurity. Farida is interested in becoming a pediatrician one day, so she did her project on cybersecurity in healthcare.  

Martin Debrah, a graduate student in cybersecurity, was one of the camp counselors, leading the children through different lessons and hands-on activities. Specifically, he introduced the campers to online ethics and password hacking, which are among the fundamentals of cybersecurity and could lay the groundwork for future careers.  

Each of the counselors, who were all cybersecurity students, developed their own presentations and lesson plans for the camp. Debrah noted that the week provided just as many learning opportunities for the counselors as the campers because of the research and experience his peers shared with the group.  

“It is very important who you surround yourself with,” Debrah said. “If I want to grow in the cyberspace, I should be in an environment where I have professionals around me.” 

He also noted how widespread cybersecurity is and how important it is for everyone to learn the basics to protect themselves and their workplaces. Even those in industries seemingly unrelated to the field need to be mindful of how they are factoring cybersecurity into their business infrastructure, healthcare systems, online teaching tools and other critical systems that run day-to-day operations.