海角社区

It鈥檚 cybersecurity awareness month and Ethan Hill, a 12-year-old student at Walnut Hill Middle School in Caddo Parish, looks back at his summer experience with the Louisiana Preparatory Program, or , at 海角社区 Shreveport, where he learned to navigate more safely through cyberspace:

鈥淢ath is my favorite subject to learn, and also, I understand it better than all of the other subjects. There鈥檚 a lot of math in cybersecurity.

鈥淎t LaPREP, we learned about phishing and cyphers and crypto and the basics of computers. The camp definitely allowed me to be safer and more self-aware on the internet, even though I鈥檇 already taken computer literacy as an elective at Walnut Hill.

鈥淭here was a lot of things I didn鈥檛 know: How important cyber can be. There are many malware and viruses that can be put into your computer, and you won鈥檛 even know about it鈥� They can leak your private information even if you buy a new computer; the virus can spread to that new computer. 

鈥淚 like the internet. It鈥檚 a good place to make connections with people, but you have to know how to protect yourself. The internet can be a very dangerous place.鈥�
- Ethan Hill, 12, Walnut Hill Middle School student

鈥淢alware stands for malicious code, and it keeps getting stronger and stronger! It can be ransomware, or a trojan, as in the horse of Troy, or a virus or a worm鈥攚hat seems like a good link but isn鈥檛 a good link.

鈥淚f my main goal for the future doesn鈥檛 work out, I might do cybersecurity. I want to study it further, but my main goal is to become a marine biologist. Now, as a marine biologist, you have a lot of data. Data about animals that could be leaked by malware. I want to know cyber better so I can become a better marine biologist.

鈥淜nowing cyber can help you get almost any job. Like my best friend: He wants to work on spaceships as an astrophysicist. For that, he鈥檚 going to need computer knowledge and cyber. My other friend wants to be a coach, but if another coach hacks your computer, he鈥檒l know your whole game plan!

鈥淚 like the internet. It鈥檚 a good place to make connections with people, but you have to know how to protect yourself. The internet can be a very dangerous place.鈥�

About LaPREP

Louisiana Preparatory Program, or , is a two-summer enrichment program that identifies, encourages and instructs competent middle and early high school students, preparing them to complete a college degree program in math, science or engineering.