Engaging JROTC Youth in CS Pathways: A Community Discussion of K-12 Cyber Security and Data Science Topics

CSforALL is collaborating with the US Air Force JROTC HQ and additional partners to launch JROTC-CS, a demonstration project to design and test implementation models for the long-term scale up of CS and cybersecurity education programs within the Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (JROTC). There are approximately 500K Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) cadets at 3,400 partner high schools across the US. The JROTC represents a significant pool of public service oriented talent. The JROTC program is comprised of a highly diverse population, with a majority-minority student population and 40% of the JROTC being female, and JROTC is strongly represented in schools serving economically disadvantaged populations (over 50% Title 1 schools). The JROTC infrastructure is under-leveraged as a technology talent development opportunity, and represents an accessible, high ROI/low cost opportunity to accelerate preparation of the future workforce in critical areas such as computing, cybersecurity, defense technologies, AI and more. The JROTC-CS Demonstration project aims to design and test experiences for the participating districts, schools, teachers, JROTC instructors, and cadets that lead to a comprehensive implementation model for future scale across the JROTC infrastructure. An estimated additional 60K students will benefit from this project, as capacity for CS and cyber security is increased at their schools.