Walt Whitman High School held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday, October 3rd to officially open its new Cybersecurity Lab. Assemblyman Steve Stern, Former Assemblyman Chad Lupinacci, South Huntington Board President Nicholas Ciappetta, Walt Whitman Interim Principal John Murphy, and Computer Science teacher Fred Feraco were joined by administrators and students to cut the ribbon.

The students then gave visitors a tour of the lab, explained what they’re learning, and what projects they were currently working on. October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, now in its 20th year, and is hosted by the Department of Homeland Security and the National Cybersecurity Alliance.

According to the website, CybersecurityGuide.org, for young people interested in a career in technology, it can be challenging to know where to start. While some schools may offer curriculum in technology, cybersecurity is not often offered. That is not the case at Walt Whitman High School.

The creation of the Cybersecurity Lab goes back to 2016 after then-Assemblyman Chad Lupinacci helped get funding from the state for the South Huntington School District to begin to design a room to be able to showcase the district’s growing computer science offerings. When Steve Stern was elected to the Assembly seat, he continued to work on the funding, and once it was secured the district began construction.

“You need a room with the right equipment and the right infrastructure,” explained Mr. Murphy. “You really need to make sure the equipment you have is a closed loop so that when you're dealing with viruses or anything else, it doesn't spread to other parts of your system, but also gives students real world opportunities to learn about how to correct and navigate through some of the potential dangers of the internet.”

Covid slowed down construction for a little while. But now the Cybersecurity Lab is complete, and this is the second year that Walt Whitman High School is offering the Cybersecurity course as a Computer Science elective.

“Today, it was great to see the hardware, and it's great to see the infrastructure,’ said Assemblyman Stern. “But when you have the opportunity to see the children sit down and start banging away on the computer keys, and their faces light up. You can just imagine all the important information that they are gleaning, all of the experience that they're getting in an area that is critically important to the future of not just our community, but all around the globe. It is cutting edge technology that is providing the very best level of education for the professions and the good paying jobs of the future.”

As our world becomes increasingly dependent upon technology, cybersecurity is a topic of growing importance, as we saw with the ransomware attack on Suffolk County government last year. The Cybersecurity Lab will allow the South Huntington School District to continue to provide students with the crucial skills needed to be responsible citizens in a digital future, and take the first steps down a meaningful career path.

Assemblyman Steve Stern, Former Assemblyman Chad Lupinacci, South Huntington Board President Nicholas Ciappetta, Walt Whitman Interim Principal John Murphy, and Computer Sciences teacher Fred Feraco were joined by administrators and students to cut the ribbon.

As our world becomes increasingly dependent upon technology, cybersecurity is a topic of growing importance.

When Steve Stern was elected to the Assembly seat, he continued to work on the funding that former Assemblyman Chad Lupinacci had started, and once funding was secured, the district began construction.