CyberPatriot Designates Rose State College "Center of Excellence"

ARLINGTON, Va., Jan. 3, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Air Force Association's CyberPatriot program has announced Rose State College of Oklahoma as its fourth CyberPatriot Center of Excellence.

CyberPatriot, the nation's largest and fastest growing high school cyber defense competition, is AFA's flagship science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) program dedicated to strengthening cyber skills among American youth. Competitors also gain valuable knowledge from the expertise of CyberPatriot's many supporters, including the Northrop Grumman Foundation, CyberPatriot's presenting sponsor.

The Center of Excellence designation is awarded to communities and institutions that provide leadership and support to further the educational experiences of their students through the CyberPatriot program. CyberPatriot established the Centers of Excellence program in 2011, and thus far, three other entities – the Los Angeles Unified School District, the City of San Antonio and the Spokane School District – have been recognized.

Rose State College is a community college located in Midwest City, Oklahoma. Since the creation of CyberPatriot in 2008, Rose State College has been energetically involved in the CyberPatriot program. They have actively collaborated with the AFA Gerrity Chapter to utilize all aspects of available communication and collaboration to recruit CyberPatriot teams and grow the program in their region.

In addition, Rose State College funds professors and student assistants to provide CyberPatriot workshops to interested high school teams, and have been instrumental in garnering support of the entire state, from the Governor, Secretary of Education, Secretary of Commerce and many Oklahoma communities.

"Rose State has engaged many individuals in their community, and their unyielding support has not gone unnoticed as they have spurred great interest in their communities on tackling the challenges ahead in cyber," said Bernie Skoch, CyberPatriot Commissioner. "Both Rose State and the Air Force Association understand the answer to the challenges our nation faces in cyberspace lies in 'people' – training today's youth to be the next generation of cyber experts, and Rose State has developed innovative ways to sustain an environment for continued learning in cyber and technology. We congratulate them on their designation as our fourth CyberPatriot Center of Excellence."

To see more about CyberPatriot's Center of Excellence Certificates, go to http://www.uscyberpatriot.org/about/Pages/CentersofExcellence.aspx

The Air Force Association is a non-profit, independent, professional military and aerospace education association. Our mission is to promote a dominant United States Air Force and a strong national defense, and to honor Airmen and our Air Force Heritage.  To accomplish this, we:

• EDUCATE the public on the critical need for unmatched aerospace power and a technically superior workforce to ensure U.S. national security.
• ADVOCATE for aerospace power and STEM education.
• SUPPORT the Total Air Force family and promote aerospace education.

AFA has 200 chapters nationally and internationally representing more than 105,000 members.  Visit AFA at www.afa.org.

SOURCE Air Force Association