Cyber Science Initiative Extends Global Outreach to Singapore

On Wednesday, July 25, members of Loyola Blakefield’s Cyber Science Initiative had the privilege of continuing their global cyber education outreach with teachers, principals, and other school leadership in Singapore. The gathering was held at the Singtel Cybersecurity Institute, and the day was centered around cybersecurity education and how to inspire students to pursue careers in this field. Recognized as a global leader in cyber education, Loyola CSI was invited to present their model of cyber education with the group remotely from Loyola Blakefield’s campus.

“The highlight of many of our presentations is to hear from the students who have made cyber education their personal passion and mission,” said Steve Morrill, Director of Cyber Science at Loyola. “We were joined by a terrific panel of students who have become very comfortable on the global stage.” This student panel included Andrew Stehman ‘18 (UMCP ‘22), Anthony Bradley ‘19, Will Erdman ‘20, Brock Pivec ‘21, and Anna Ptak (Mount de Sales Academy ‘20).

The panel shared their insights on how they became interested in cybersecurity and how educators can inspire their own students to follow a similar path. “Being on a multinational conference call was a very inspiring thing for me,” said Will Erdman ’20. “It showed me that not only are there teachers in other countries want to teach cyber, but that there are students eager to learn it, too. It was an amazing opportunity for me to help people across the world, and having the chance to inspire others to learn was incredible. The teachers were amazed at how much time I spent studying cyber, and it gave them hope that they would have students equally interested in Singapore.”

"To even be considered to participate in an international conference call was a personal accomplishment for me," said Brock Pivec '21. "At first, I wondered why adult educators from Singapore would want to listen to a rising sophomore from halfway around the world discuss cyber education and how it is a such an essential part of my life, but this experience opened my eyes to a whole new level of how lucky I am to be part of such an amazing and life-changing program here at Loyola. It also showed me how cyber is such a new and vast topic to so many people around the world, and how quickly it has begun to spread in the past couple years. It felt great to share my experience with others and help inform them about a topic that is so important in today's world, as well as the future."

Steve Morrill also led teachers through a training workshop on how to incorporate cybersecurity into every aspect of their curriculum. George Heron from LifeJourney introduced teachers to the Singtel Cybersecurity experience, an online interactive training platform that is based on similar platforms running in the U.S. and Australia. This session helped to highlight the growing demand for cybersecurity professionals across the world.

“We are proud to continue this great Jesuit tradition of preparing students for the world they will be entering,” said Morrill. “And we look forward to continuing to work with our global partners on cyber education and security projects. As a Jesuit school, collaboration is at the heart of our mission, and it is also how many cyber issues will be solved—another reason cyber fits our school’s model so well.”