Cybersecurity Council Council Chair Larry Hurtado (Founder, Evanesco Inc.) introduced Joseph Coppola and Casey Parra from the Alamo Colleges District to present on the Information Technology Apprenticeship Launch.
During their presentation, they highlighted the expansiveness of the Alamo Colleges District, comprised of 5 Alamo Colleges, 8 Regional & Neighborhood Centers, 14 Early-College High Schools, CAST career academies, and 3 P-Tech academies. P-Tech academies are career focused, work-based experiential learning models of early-college high schools where students earn an industry credential and/or an associate degree upon graduation. The work being done by the Alamo Colleges District has resulted in being recognized as the largest provider of workforce training in the area. Coppola and Parra went on to share statistics regarding student demographics within the Alamo Colleges District including a 64% Hispanic population, 60% female population, and 68% of students attending part-time.
Pertaining to the Information Technology Apprenticeship launch, they detailed:
• Key fundamentals students involved in the cybersecurity program would learn such as analyzing common security failures, describing the ethics within cybersecurity practices, offensive cybersecurity tactics, and resolving host or network intrusions
• Differences between the rigorous demands and on the job learning of a registered apprenticeship versus other work-enhanced learning experience models
• Core components of a registered apprenticeship: employer involvement, structured and paid on the job learning, job related educational instruction, rewards for skill gains, and national occupational credential opportunities
The full Alamo Colleges District presentation can be found here.