RBR AOIT Program Partners with Cyber Security Firm

Red Bank Regional (RBR) graduate Chloe Sharpe, Bradley Beach, is headed to Stevens Institute of Technology this fall to study computer engineering. But first, she is getting a jump on her subject matter and future employment opportunities with a valuable internship at Sensato, a cybersecurity firm located in Red Bank, NJ. Chloe’s future is bright with a great demand for jobs in her chosen field of cybersecurity. Over one million of those necessary jobs are currently unfilled according to Sensato CEO and founder John Gomez. As current events have clearly demonstrated, the need for corporations and government to protect their online infrastructure is vital. The US Department of Defense has designated cyber the greatest threat to American security.

John Gomez, whose company services worldwide clients, states Sensato’s mission as “Simply standing between good and evil,” adding, “We defend our clients’ networks and critical infrastructure.”

Mr. Gomez and his marketing director Amanda Garrett met Chloe in her high school, after reading a national press article written about RBR and a recent cyber security competition featuring only girls. RBR’s cyber security program founder, Mandy Galante had been instrumental in recruiting high school girls to participate in the national GirlsGoCyberStart Competition which took place this past winter. In fact, RBR had the largest number of participants and teams competing in New Jersey with a total of 45 girls in 15 teams. The school subsequently earned a $3,000 prize from Cisco, one of the contest sponsors.

John Gomez comments, “When we first learned about the (RBR) program through the article, I asked Amanda to contact the high school. It sounded really cool and I wanted to see what was happening.

Amanda adds, “As a woman in the field, I really wanted to talk to the girls and see what they were learning. We initially offered them a power point presentation on past attacks and cybersecurity in general but turned it off when the girls got really excited talking about the field of quantum computing. We noticed Chloe was so articulate and knowledgeable in her questions. She inspired us to bring someone new and fresh into our company.”

Chloe comments, “John gave us a basic understanding of quantum computing (a state-of-the art and revolutionary method of computing) and it really blew our minds. We learned how it can be implemented through qubits, and then accessed through the cloud. It just fascinated us. It showed us how computers could progress to be really powerful tools.”

Although Chloe could not speak about the sensitive nature of the work she is doing with Sensato, she is learning a great deal and is thrilled to have this opportunity, adding, “This job is really preparing me to obtain future internships and helping me in my future career.”

She adds, “I have to thank my RBR teachers, Mrs. Galante and Mr. Milonas for well preparing me in this program to become proficient in cyber security.”

Since 2008, Red Bank Regional (RBR) has offered a unique program in cyber-security. It encompasses a four-year instructional-track in computer hardware, networking, cybersecurity and digital forensics, with a concentration on active labs with real equipment. Students have also tested and honed their knowledge and skills in many regional and national cyber-security competitions turning in top performances year after year.

Most recently, the RBR teaching staff has tried to improve the numbers on one aspect of cyber-security program, females participation. In 2015, Mandy Galante and Jeremy Milonas trained middle school girls to compete in the prestigious CyberPatriot competition, where those teams took 2nd and 3rd place in that national contest. This past school year, the RBR computer teachers Jeremy Milonas and Ali Murphy wrote a grant to create an after-school coding program for RBR’s sending middle schools. RBR’s STEM students acted as mentors to the younger students to entice them to join the RBR STEM programs. Chloe was one of the high school mentors for the middle school students..

RBR cybersecurity program founder Mandy Galante comments, “I was so personally gratified to see the entire arc of our program come to fruition with Chloe as a great example. She was a high achieving student and participated in many competitions and even placed third in the state with the CyberPatriot program in her junior year. She was accepted into a challenging program at an exceptional college and now is spending her summer in a valuable internship directly related to that field before she has even started college.”

John Gomez expressed a desire to retain the relationship with RBR and even be a guest presenter on subjects like quantum computing, adding, “If there is a way to adopt a school, I would like to adopt RBR.”