Entering The Cyberpatriot Competition

So we have a really active AFJROTC wing here at my school, which isn't surprising considering we McConnell AFB literally just three miles up the road and within our district boundaries. I wasn't aware of the Cyberpatriot competition last year in time to get us in and competing, but we did meet and study a bit to learn about cybersecurity. This year, we are going to get in the game!

It looks like I will have one AFJROTC team and one open division team. Thankfully we have a local college instructor in cybersecurity who not only lives in our district, but also has extensive background with the military as an active duty Air Force officer in cybersecurity and intelligence. We also have an Air National Guard intelligence wing up at the base, giving me even more potential mentors to call on. I was talking with one of the current officers in the intelligence wing at our home football game last Friday (it was military night), and he was thrilled that Derby HS has students in CS and offering opportunities in cybersecurity.

As we ponder what to offer to round out our CS course offerings, a cybersecurity is certainly one possibility. The issue I am finding is there isn't a lot out there of more "ready to go" curriculum, and this is one area I certainly don't feel comfortable crafting up my own curriculum, at least not yet.

Any thoughts on a cybersecurity curriculum, or should we be pondering other avenues? I know we could add AP CS A, but considering what types of jobs are actually available in our area, I'm not sure AP CS A and its focus on students aiming for four year CS degrees makes the most sense. I've been wondering about the notion of the "blue collar coder" as was brought up in a Wired article earlier this year, though I know some were kind of loathe to that notion.