Livingston County continues to be a hotbed of cybersecurity education

LIVINGSTON COUNTY — As the field grows in size and demand, local high school students are showing continued interest in cybersecurity and computer networking courses offered by Livingston Educational Services Agency.

The state's first recorded cybersecurity course began at Pinckney High School about 15 years ago, and now students can earn college credits and industry certifications depending on their interests, class performance and future goals, according to Michelle Radcliffe, LESA vice president of career development.

Radcliffe thanked the teachers and administrators at Pinckney High School and Jim Darga, former principal and current director of the Pinckney Cyber ​​Training Institute, for continuing the program.

“State grant funding has allowed us to purchase new (cybersecurity) equipment and have state-of-the-art classrooms at Heartland,” Radcliffe said. “We have a highly regarded testing center there and a secure fiber-optic area.”

Juniors and seniors from any public or private high school in the county are eligible to take Heartland High School's Cyber ​​Security and Computer Networking course, which instructor Jen Rota said was developed by global technology company Cisco and covers hardware components of PCs and printers, network architecture and security.