An ongoing debate: Do we control the Internet? Or does the Internet control us?
Albeit sometimes attempting to ‘control’ the Internet and feel safe while browsing may feel like wrangling a bull while wearing all red, there is a way to gain a deeper understanding of the Internet. The CyberTech Awareness Program (in this metaphor: the ‘Matador’ of the Internet!) aims to help educate children K-12 on Cyber Technology and safer internet practices!
What is CyberTech?
The CyberTech Awareness Program is a student-run team whose main goal is to spread valuable education resources about Cybersecurity. The team has various ways of completing that, such as internships with high school students, curriculum crafting, and more. By providing this education, CyberTech seeks two outcomes. One: to create healthier internet practices in all ages. Two: to inspire more people to follow a career path in cybersecurity.
This semester they are working on starting up providing high school internships with CyberTech. They will use curriculums made by Cybersecurity professors and the CyberTech team. The internship utilizes courses ranging from basic cybersecurity, to more advanced things such as facial recognition and website monitoring (which comes with a free Raspberry Pi for the student). They currently have 8 interns- the most they’ve ever had!
CyberTech is also working with a High School’s CyberPatriot’s team- which is a cybersecurity competition and learning service in schools. Their job is to reach out to this team and provide important resources. This will help develop the high schooler’s technological and cybersecurity skills!
On the other hand, the Marketing Team with CyberTech is also currently working on a newsletter! The newsletter will include some cyber-tips. Then, sent out to schools around Vermont!
The Lead Behind It All: Hannelore Sanokklis
Hannelore Sanokklis is a second-year student with Champlain College and a Networking and Cybersecurity major. She has been working with The Leahy Center for 4 semesters, and is currently the Outreach Coordinator and Supervisor of CyberTech.
“[Our goal] is to make education accessible,” Hannelore said in an interview, “It’s important to get kids interested in cybersecurity younger.”
When she was in high school, she was the only girl in her Computer Science and Cybersecurity classes, so now going into college, she’s passionate about inspiring more people in getting into the field.
“We’re the education pillar of the Leahy Center,” Hannelore said, “One thing that’s special about our team is that anybody can do it… it’s a good stepping stone to come work on our team to figure out what you want to do in Cybersecurity.”
Another Look Inside: Rune Seregina
Rune Seregina is a current first-year student at Champlain College. They were a previous intern at CyberTech, and the current Marketing Lead.
At their internship with CyberTech, they participated in The Women In Cyber Summit, Champlain College hosted event. There, women in the Cybersecurity field come together to share knowledge and forge connections within the industry.
“…the interns made guides for how to use different hacking tools within Kali which were handed out along with drives with a custom version of Kali Linux itself on them.” Rune stated
“Cybersecurity isn’t something I knew a lot about coming into Champlain but it’s something I felt like I naturally gravitated to and I’m really enjoying learning about all the different parts of it.” They stated personally, before delving deeper, “It’s a concept that is relatively new and constantly evolving and that’s what makes it so important for people and businesses to be aware of it. Now and in the future, the amount of (often valuable) data being produced needs to be secured and there needs to be people who know how to do it right.”
Now Rune is working as the Marketing Lead for CyberTech. They are looking forward to their new role and responsibilities!
By Cierra Rossi ’27, Writing and Publishing
Cierra Rossi has been passionate about writing since she was young, specializing in creative writing and story-focused pieces.