From the Board of Directors of Aaron Barnett Foundation-  

Our heartfelt congratulations to Donna Woods who is a recipient of one of two national inaugural Presidential Cybersecurity Education Awards. This award is a true recognition of her hard work, dedication, and passion for cybersecurity providing years of guidance and encouraging young students in cyber education at Canyon Springs High School and Moreno Valley Unified School District. Under her leadership, 97.4% of students become successful in achieving industry certifications.  Students within the Cyber Academic Pathway continually achieve a 100% graduation rate, with 93.7% entering in post-secondary education to continue their cyber career endeavors.

Ms. Woods believes that the award is recognition for the collaborative approach by all cybersecurity communities and individuals who are true advocates of cyber education and thanked her coworkers, mentors, industry partners,  and especially her students for their hard work and dedication.

Ms. Woods has served as a CTE/ICT educator in Moreno Valley Unified School District for 20 years, with the past five diligently focused on developing the Cyber Academic Pathway.  With the support of the late Aaron Barnett, IT Director of MVUSD, the team built a strong foundation for the Career and Technical Education programs with an emphasis on cybersecurity. These programs include real-world training such as internships and apprenticeships alongside classroom instruction.

Aaron Barnett, served as the IT Director of Moreno Valley Unified School District for 20 years from 1998 to 2018, and is the founder of the MVUSD Cyber Academic Pathway. Throughout his entire career, Aaron was deeply committed to providing incredible opportunities for MVUSD students empowering the MVUSD Cyber Academic Pathway program to be recognized as a Riverside County CTE Model of Excellence program in 2018.

Learn more about Aaron Barnett
https://aaronbarnettfoundation.org/page/about-aaron-barnett

”Due to Aaron's unwavering dedication, our alumni are serving in lead ICT and Cybersecurity positions throughout the nation, and have changed the socio-economic status for their families.” shared Donna Woods. 

Upon receiving the award, Ms. Woods stated, ”It all started with Aaron’s vision, and it is incredibly humbling. We all know it is never a solo effort, but rather a collaborative endeavor by many individuals advocating for students and cyber.”

The ABF Board of Directors  is proud to have Donna Woods as one of the valuable board members for her dedication in guiding ABF to launch the inaugural Aaron Barnett Memorial Scholarship on May 1st, 2020. Ms. Woods orchestrated her unique talents in designing a qualifying scoring guide to measure how well the students mastered the content and skills of Cybersecurity courses and their motivation to further their careers in cybersecurity to become future Cyber leaders. Serving as a key developer for the ABF Scholarship program, Ms. Woods and the ABF team created a scoring rubric and online web portal for the selection committee members and student applicants, facilitating ease of use for the scholarship processes. The Inaugural Aaron Barnett Memorial Scholarship also introduces the inception of our ”Student Ambassador Programs” engaging students with ABF activities. 

The Aaron Barnett Foundation was established in 2019 to empower CybersecurityK12 students to pursue their careers in cybersecurity. ABF is committed to live Aaron’s legacy alive committing to support students with SCHOLARSHIPS, MENTORSHIPS, INCENTIVES & NETWORKING.

More about the Inaugural Aaron Barnett Scholarship
https://aaronbarnettfoundation.org/page/aaron-barnett-memorial-scholarship

Learn more about Donna Woods 
https://aaronbarnettfoundation.org/team/board-member/donna.w

Learn more about the Award (Inaugural Presidential Cybersecurity Education Award)
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/california-teacher-honored-as-inaugural-presidential-cybersecurity-education-award-recipient-301059447.html?tc=eml_cleartime