CybHER, AT&T take cyber education to SD reservations

A new program will address digital divide issues among the youth on South Dakota’s nine reservations.

“Digital divide” has often been defined as a lack of access to technology, but it also refers to issues related to knowledge and use. Through a 27-thousand dollar grant from the AT&T Foundation, Dakota State University’s CybHER will address knowledge by teaching coding, robotics, online safety, and cyber concepts to students who live on the nine reservations around the state.

Dakota State’s CybHER team, an outreach program created in 2013, has been very successful in creating novel ways to introduce cybersecurity topics to a variety of age levels, actions that address a recognized national need for cybersecurity education. Over the last nine years, they have reached more than 33-thousand people from K-12 to college age and beyond.

For this project, CybHER will work with Boys & Girls Clubs near the nine reservations in South Dakota.  Dakota State CybHER students will visit every club over the course of the next 12 months, teaching the basics of coding and cybersecurity. They will also help caregivers understand and mitigate cyber threats.

Also, CybHER will reserve spots for ten girls to attend the 2022 GenCyber Girls CybHER camp.  This free, annual camp is an opportunity for middle school girls to spend a week at DSU learning about cybersecurity. This year’s camp takes place the week of June 19th.

AT&T has supported this mission for over six years, helping fund several camp opportunities. 

May 24, 2022