On September 10, 2024, Stijn Pletinckx, a PhD candidate in UCSB's Computer Science Department, delivered a lunch-time presentation to students at Santa Barbara Senior High School, formally launching a collaboration between the SBHS Computer Science Academy and the ACTION AI Institute. Stijn's presentation, titled "Hacking for Good: Unlocking Cybersecurity and Ethical Hacking Careers," was meant catalyze the creation of a new student-run, hacking club at the public high school. It is the first step in a greater outreach effort funded by NSF through the ACTION Institute, and also in part by a Faculty Outreach Grant from UCSB's Chancellor's Outreach Advisory Board.
Working with Ms. Sky Adams, the Director of the SBHS CS Academy, Stijn's goal is to use hacking exercises to teach computer science and programming to high school students. His focus is on general problem solving; his curriculum will rely heavily on challenges inspired by Capture the Flag. Stijn will help the SBHS students build a club, meeting with them in-person on a bi-weekly basis to provide educational materials.
One aspect of Stijn's plan for assessment is to track performance in organized CTF throughout the academic term. The SBHS team will participate in ACTION's iCTF in November 2024 and then in Carnegie Mellon's PicoCTF in March 2025. Stijn will be joined in his efforts by other members of ACTION and by the UCSB Women in Computer Science.
A later outcome of this SBHS + ACTION collaboration will be a replicable curriculum that can be brought, first to other high schools near ACTION Institute campuses, and subsequently to high schools around the United States.
Stay tuned for more information on how this project progresses.