The Washington Center

“The Washington Center, a higher-education adjacent non-profit focused on career-connected and experiential learning, launched a Teach to Work Mentor Program in Spring 2023 with a focus on bolstering skills for careers in cybersecurity. Through research in the Center’s Innovation Institute, the program was launched due to the national and global need for career-ready talent to fill millions of cyber jobs. Designed to build skills and provide pathways into the various cybersecurity domains for diverse learners, the pilot program’s priorities were to:

• Provide industry-specific and relevant learning objectives for the field
• Ensure project-based learning and career exploration
• Boost aptitude for diverse learners in the cyber sector
• Provide paid microinternships to participants
• Incorporate trained Teach To Work mentors into the microinternships
• Align closely with employers’ needs in the field.

With nearly 600 applicants, fifty participants were competitively selected for the pilot program including women, veterans, LGBTQ, first-generation college students, persons with disabilities, neurodiverse individuals, and those from historically marginalized racial and ethnic backgrounds. The participants self-identified as:

• 44% Black/African American
• 15% Asian-Indian
• 15% white
• 12% Hispanic
• 59% working students with one or more jobs
• 79% full-time students
• 75% some background in cybersecurity

The program had three components:

1. A cyber discovery module presented virtually to boost technological skills through a partnership with the Cyber Guild.
2. A remote project-based paid micro internship
3. An in-person boot camp in DC to grow peer and professional networks, as well as career-connected technical skills at no cost to the participants to ensure access and inclusion

Teach to Work Mentors were required to have at least 3 years of experience in the cybersecurity industry, a bachelor’s degree, and technical IT/cyber training.

The Teach to Work mentorship training included:

1. Asynchronous or in-person 60-90 minute mentor training with expectations established and overarching schedule for project participants
2. Guidance and collateral materials from Teach to Work for mentors to understand their role in intergenerational relationships, and how to do Project Based Mentoring®
3. Real-world role-playing scenarios that guided mentor learning/ training
4. Follow up from the programs team at The Washington Center throughout the microinternship.

At the conclusion of the program, student participants felt that they had a better understanding of their career paths in cyber and learned strategies of how to pursue them. Every student said they were likely to pursue a career in cyber after participating — 27% unlikely before program compared to 83% after. Students noted that they learned new skills that would be applicable to their career goals. Overall the students found the Teach to Work mentor experience valuable; however, student responses indicated there was a variance in mentor/mentee experiences. Though this program was designed to be an innovative short-term model, both employers and students expressed a desire for the mentor/ internship program to last longer. As a result, TWC is now looking to expand the microinternship in cybersecurity into its semester and summer-long Academic Internship Program with a digital and emerging technology cohort over a longer timeframe than the initial microinternship provided. The Teach to Work Mentoring program was recognized on TWC’s website, in recruitment and training of mentors, as well as the Cybersecurity Accelerator boot camp weekend to all students, employers, and stakeholders.

Going forward—One of the biggest reasons the program included project-based outcomes was to ensure the learners had specific experiences to add to their resumes and portfolios. TWC plans to continue this program and expand it to 12 weeks to build greater skills and acumen, and stronger pathways to cyber careers. Industry-specific and trained mentors will continue to be an important component of the program to support students in their journey.”