The Aaron Barnett Foundation introduces an additional scholarship for up to $7000.00 to attract and support young women who are seniors (12-grade) in the public schools in San Bernardino County, Riverside County, Orange County and San Diego County to study and build careers in cyber security.
Why this initiative?
The Aaron Barnett Foundation governing board felt compelled to launch this scholarship to attract more young women in cybersecurity. As current and former IT leaders we know that young women are underrepresented in the field of cybersecurity and technology in general and we want to help. We needed to create a support mechanism working at the grassroots levels to motivate young students in the high schools. The Aaron Barnett Foundation is a perfect platform to implement it. Aaron Barnett was a champion for young women in technology and this new scholarship opportunity supports his vision to increase opportunities for women. As we promised at our June 2021 scholarship awards ceremony, we began promoting this new endeavor the following August by contacting technology leaders, both male and female, to get their help and perspective. The response was encouraging as we heard back from boards of directors, donors, and technology leaders in industry and schools. Some of these leaders have offered to dedicate their time and efforts to mentor young women who benefit from our scholarship program.
Why do we feel this urge to create a separate Cybersecurity scholarship program only for young women?
As computer technology continues to advance, the US and other countries throughout the world are becoming increasingly vulnerable to criminal cybersecurity breaches. Cybercriminals can cripple our entire economy, as evidenced by the recent news of various large companies paying huge ransoms to cybercriminals. The need for a large workforce of cybersecurity experts will continue to increase and women should be a significant part of this workforce.
Our scholarship review process has revealed that males tend to apply in much greater numbers than females. We want to show young women that the Aaron Barnett Scholarship program is here to help them pursue their higher education in cybersecurity and chart pathways to cybersecurity leadership roles. The Aaron Barnett Foundation promotes young men and young women in cybersecurity by providing better opportunities for both.
Key Takeaways that intrigued us to launch this program*:
- 24% of the cybersecurity workforce are women
- A higher percentage of females over males reach higher level positions in this industry including
- Chief Technology Officer - 7% men versus 2% women
- IT Director - 18% men -vs- 14% women
- VP of IT - 9% men -vs- 5% of women
- There are not enough qualified applications for the thousands of open or projected positions
- There are fewer support mechanisms for women in high school and college to pursue cybersecurity careers
*According to ISC2, an international, nonprofit membership association for information security leaders.
These facts lead us to conclude that there is plenty of room for women in this growing industry, that those who enter the industry have plenty of opportunity for career advancement, and that young women only lack sufficient support and encouragement to be successful.
What we can do:
Individual motivation and encouragement alone are insufficient. Schools need to develop pathways for young women to be educated, trained, and hired for cybersecurity positions. Our hope is that this small step by the Aaron Barnett Foundation can become part of a larger effort by schools to develop strong pathways for women specifically so that cybersecurity education and good jobs in this field are available to more young women.
Women Helping Women:
This scholarship opportunity includes $7000 in cash prizes along with laptop and Chromebooks. Additionally, scholarship recipients will become part of a peer group where women in cybersecurity actively support one another to succeed. We hope to assist young women with support mechanisms that help them develop their careers with mentorship, scholarships, incentives, and job placement.
We welcome all educators and technical leaders to encourage 12th grade female students studying ICT (Information Communication Technology) to apply for scholarships in the 2022/2023 school year.
Please take a look at the criterion to be eligible for the scholarships
https://aaronbarnettfoundation.org/page/aaron-barnett-memorial-scholarship