Rockbridge schools expanding cybersecurity and manufacturing programs

ROCKBRIDGE COUNTY, Va. (WDBJ) - Rockbridge County Public Schools (RCPS) is continuing to expand the programs it offers at its Career and Technical Education facility at Rockbridge High School.

The school division opened the new state-of-the-art Rockbridge Innovation Center at the beginning of the year. Now, new grant money will help the school division expand its programs and help students pursue career pathways in cybersecurity, welding, and advanced manufacturing.

“It’s a great opportunity for students to get them career-ready when they leave high school. They will have certifications and experience working with equipment so that when they go onto the job, they’re ready to go to work,” said Paige Owens, Rockingham County Public Schools Director of Career and Technical Education and Technology.

With the help of Rockbridge County Economic Development Director Brandy Flint and in partnership with the county and the City of Lexington, RCPS has secured a $169,000 Growth and Opportunity for Virginia (GO Virginia) grant.

That money will go toward upgrading equipment and creating a new space for the cybersecurity program, completing the innovation center’s welding lab, purchasing a forklift for students to train for forklift certification, and creating a new hydraulic pneumatic manufacturing lab space.

“With this grant, we’re able to gain another forklift to allow us to start training on forklift certifications and to fully complete our CNC (computer numerical control) lineup with wood manipulation, metal manipulation, and then we have two laser engravers that will allow us to do any etching on any materials,” said Rockbridge Innovation Center Manufacturing Teacher Colter Bennett. ”We’re also getting our Hydraulic testing center that gives the students the ability to get some hands-on experience creating their own hydraulic setups, and understanding how hydraulics work, which will be very helpful in some of our local industries."

RCPS launched the cybersecurity and advanced manufacturing programs five years ago. Paige Owens said he believes the new upgrades will help draw more students into the programs.

“We’ve had some pretty good success with both of these programs as far as students taking them. I feel like the enhancements we’re able to make will increase that, and our students will understand the opportunities we’re able to provide them,” he said.

Cotler Bennett has been teaching manufacturing at Rockbridge High School for four years. He said the program has come a long way in that time.

“We started out the program not having many pieces of equipment at all. We had one CNC machine and a couple of hand tools. So we used it to the best of our ability to start getting the students to understand how to run equipment and how to do it safely. We very quickly, through the renovation that we just went through, were able to acquire a couple more CNC machines, one new forklift, and a couple of other odd and end pieces of equipment that have already helped us out with our program,” said Bennett.

Bennett said that students who have graduated from the program are already contributing to the local workforce, and the school division hopes to create a feeder system with some businesses in the future.

“I think the most important thing for me is that they just get the skills. Once they have those skills, the opportunities are endless locally and nationally,” he said. “There’s not a lot of opportunity for exposure for them outside of the high school right now, so starting this trend of just getting them prepared and getting them hands-on experience will truly benefit our community as well as the students.”

The school division is emphasizing the growth of its cybersecurity program. Alexander Morrow is a cybersecurity consultant and the program’s new teacher. He’s focused on helping students get various certifications in the growing field.

“It’s really a lot about learning by doing. If we give them that opportunity to do, find out that they excel at these things, they could very well graduate from high school and be making very good money, enough to start a family once they graduate,” said Morrow.

Morrow said he feels it’s important to introduce students to all the different options for IT careers.

“A lot of cyber programs are heavily focused on things like coding, stuff like that, data-based development, and that’s great stuff to learn. I think the biggest problem we’re seeing across the board when it comes to education and IT is that there’s this static focus in one direction of IT, whereas there are so many different facets of information technology. You’ve got offensive, you’ve got defensive information technology, which is more along the lines of cyber,” said Morrow. “What I want to do with this program is not only develop an understanding of all those facets, but obtain interest from students who maybe otherwise wouldn’t be interested and show them that they have so many different directions to go.”

Morrow said the new equipment and class space coming from the grant funding will play a big part in helping students have hands-on training in the field.

Xavier Flowers is a senior at Rockbridge High School who has been taking manufacturing courses since his freshman year. He said it has been a great experience for him.

“I enjoyed it more because it was hands-on instead of sitting behind a computer and doing basic paperwork. It’s just more hands-on and interactive than any normal class,” said Flowers.

Flowers said having access to all the manufacturing equipment at the innovation center has been a big help to him and his fellow students.

“We have new CNC machines, so we can cut out signs with that and other boards and stuff like that. We have a laminator that prints out big banners and stuff like that,” he said. “It’s helped me because I have this experience now that if I wanted to go to a trade school and go into a trade, I know a good bit about it.”

Flowers said he plans to attend a trade school for welding after graduating in the spring. He said the continued expansion of these programs is putting students in a good spot for the future.

“If you want to go into a trade, it’s really good experience coming from High School, going into a trade that you know and that you enjoy. So overall it’s a fun experience, but it definitely sets you up for later,” said Flowers.

The school division says the new manufacturing lab space will be complete soon, and its new cybersecurity space and equipment will be ready for the start of the next school year.